Seven Years
by SiriuslyLoopyLupin
Summary: Starting with Lily Luna's first year, this story follows her and the rest of the entire Potter-Weasley family through their seven years at Hogwarts as they encounter adventure, romance, sadness, and friendship that will change their lives forever.
1. The Beginning

Disclaimer: I do not own anything Harry Potter. If you recognize it, it's not mine.

Author's Notes: Hello. Welcome to my new story. :] It follows the next generation of Potters and Weasley through their seven years at Hogwarts. Hope you enjoy.

Seven Years

Chapter 1

The happiest day of Harry James Potter's life was May 2nd, 2000. It was the three-year anniversary of the Battle of Hogwarts and the end of the War.

It was also his wedding day.

He insisted on that day for a reason, specifically because it was the anniversary of the end of the war. It was a reminder to him of what he lost and what he gained. He never wanted to forget why he fought so hard, against all odds. Ginny. He loved her with every fiber of his being. In the early morning hours of the Battle of Hogwarts, shortly after it ended, Harry asked Ginny for a walk around the lake. He asked her to be his girlfriend. To truly be his girlfriend, with no dark Lords hanging over their heads. To his joy, she said yes.

The wedding happened at Hogwarts. Ron and Harry had just finished Auror training. Ginny had been playing with the Holyhead Harpies for two years and Hermione had one year left of Wizarding Law School. She was Ginny's maid of honor, while Ron was Harry's best man. Neville and Luna were both in their respective wedding parties and three year old Teddy Lupin was the ring bearer, his hair a soft gold to match the wedding décor. It had been a gorgeous ceremony, but Harry only had eyes for his beautiful bride to be, in her flowing wedding dress, accented with delicate peach embroidered flowers.

A year and a half later, when Hermione had graduated and both had steady jobs, Ron and Hermione were married at the Burrow. Ginny and Harry repaid the favor as their maid of honor and best man, respectively. Two years after that, Neville married Hannah Abbott, and shortly after, they all received post from Luna, informing them of her marriage to fellow naturalist, Rolf Scamander, whom she met abroad.

Ginny gave up playing professional Quidditch and became the main Quidditch correspondent for the Daily Prophet in 2003 when she discovered she was pregnant with their first child. Harry was ecstatic. He had a beautiful wife, and was finally getting the family he always wanted. James Sirius Potter was born at 3:17 a.m., June 11th, 2004. He was perfect. A big baby, with a wisp of dark hair and light brown eyes like his mother.

Not even a year later, Albus Severus Potter was born on April 25th, 2005 at 2:45 p.m. His name was difficult to decided on between Harry and Ginny. Both parents were set to name their next son after the headmaster who had offered so much kindness, compassion and guidance to them all but a middle name had not been decided on by the time he was born. Ginny wanted Fred or Arthur, but the moment little Al was born, and he opened his big, emerald green eyes; Harry knew it had to be Severus. He fought tooth and nail to get Ginny to agree, and in the end, she complied.

A few months later, Hermione, who had been pregnant alongside Ginny, gave birth on August 31st to her first child, a baby girl named Rose Amelia. Harry, who gained some experience handling James, had been natural at fatherhood, as had Ginny with motherhood. Ron, however, spent all nine months of his pregnancy a nervous wreck, alternating between studying baby books, flash cards included and cursing the day he met Hermione. However, the moment Rose was placed into her fathers arms, she wrapped her small hand around Ron's long finger, and he melted. His little girl already had him wrapped around her finger. Ron would do anything for his little girl. One year later, Ron's son Hugo Arthur Weasley was born on January 1, 2006, at 12:04 a.m.

Harry was very happy with his two sons. By age two, James was already proving to be a little terror, whizzing around on his toy broomstick, knocking many things over and breaking even more. He had always been a very rambunctious baby, and in contrast, Al had been easier to handle. James adored his little brother, and loved to play with him. But Harry was jealous of Ron and his relationship with little Rosie. He wanted a daughter.

He got his wish. Harry had just been promoted by Minister Kingsley Shacklebolt to Head Auror when he received an urgent floo from Hermione. Ginny had gone into labor two months early and there was a complication concerning the placenta. The baby was not expected to live. Harry had never been more scared in his life, even when facing Voldemort. Lily Luna Potter was born on March 22nd, 2006 at 4 in the afternoon, at thirty-two weeks gestation. They had always planned to name their daughter Lily, but after seeing her, so tiny but full of life and a full head of red hair, he knew Lily was the perfect name choice.

Harry loved his life. He had three beautiful, intelligent, courageous children and a brave, spirited godson that reminded Harry so much of Remus. He lived in Godrics Hollow, having made its repair the first thing he did after the war, after asking Ginny to be his girlfriend. His best friends lived across the street and a few houses down in his mentor's family home. They raised their children together in the countryside.

"Lily, it's here!" James called up the stairs to his little sister. "Sorry, but you're actually a Muggle! OW! Mum!"

"Knock it off, James," his mother said easily, before turning her back to him and returning to cooking breakfast.

Lily came bounding down the stairs, a red blur and went flying to the kitchen table.

"It's here, it's here, it's finally here!" She crashed into the table, making the glasses of juice rock and almost spill.

"Lily, watch it!" Ginny told her daughter as she placed a plate of pancakes on to the rickety table. James grabbed for his glass of juice with a glare to his sister.

Lily ignored the reprimand from her mother and the look from her brother. She flicked through the post quickly, skipping past her brothers letters before arriving on hers.

_Lily Luna Potter_

_Godric's Hollow_

_Kitchen_

She tore the paper open and scanned the page eagerly. September first could not come soon enough for her. Ever since her eldest brother had started Hogwarts, coming home for Christmas with stories filled with excitement and adventure (granted, it _was_ James), she had wanted more than anything to go to Hogwarts. She turned to her brother, smacking him over the head with her envelope.

"Ow! Lily!"

"I am not a muggle." She stuck her tongue out at him.

"Mum, Lily hit me!" He turned to his mother. "Are you going to let her commit such an act of injustice?"

"James, give it a rest. Lily, don't hit your brother," said Ginny, without missing a beat in flipping the eggs. The moment her back was turned, Lily stuck her tongue out at James, who responded with a rude hand gesture.

"Mum, can we go to Diagon Alley today?"

"We have all summer to go, Lily."

"Mum, please," she begged. Ginny sighed, and placed the final plate for breakfast on to the table. Ignoring Lily's question, she turned to her son.

"James, where's your brother?"

"He's outside practicing with Dad," James responded, already shoveling more food than any thirteen year old should be able to eat onto his plate. Lily sighed, and sat in her seat at the end of the table, slumping in the seat. She crinkled her nose in disgust at her brother, who was now forking four fried eggs into his mouth.

As if they knew they were being talked about, Harry Potter and his youngest son, Al, entered through the back door, bringing with them a blast of hot air. Both were sweaty and their matching black hair was mussed in the back.

"Is it time for breakfast already?" Harry asked, taking his sons broomstick and hanging them on the broom rack next to the back door as Al took a seat next to Lily.

"Already? It's after ten," Ginny said, sitting down. She tilted her head up to kiss her husband. All three children made gagging noises and gestures. She rolled her eyes as Harry sat down at the head of the table.

"Sorry. I had to score against Al once. It would be embarrassing not to." Al beamed at his father's comment.

"I'm definitely going to get on the Quidditch team this year, now that Wood is graduating," Al said excitedly. Lily gave a pointed look to James.

"Speaking of Hogwarts, the letters came today," James said casually.

"Daddy, can we go to Diagon Alley today?" Lily asked sweetly, turning to her father. She widened her eyes and jutted out her lower lip. "Please?"

Lily knew that she could get her father to say yes to anything she asked. It was the benefit of being the youngest and only daughter. Her father turned to her and smiled.

"Did you ask your mother?" He asked.

"Yes, she did," Ginny said crossly. "And her mother said no."

"But Dad, I want to start learning already!" Lily tugged on his shirt. James snorted.

"Just like your Aunt Hermione," Harry said with a laugh. He checked his watch. "After breakfast, I'll shower, and we can head over."

Lily smiled widely.

After breakfast, the family of five headed to Diagon Alley. She clutched her father's hand and they Apparated. After she experienced the uncomfortable feeling of being squeezed through a rather small tube, she landed unsteadily in the front of Gringotts. Her father's steady hand kept her on her feet, but the moment she gained her balance she pulled on his hand, tugging towards the bank.

"C'mon, let's go," she said.

"Lily, stop that this instant," her mother said crossly, already in a foul mood at Lily for worming her way here. Lily immediately stopped pulling on her father's hand, and slowed down to walk back with James and Albus. She knew from experience when to stop pushing her mother's often short temper.

James sped up to stroll casually along in front of his siblings, his hands in his pockets. A girl who passed blushed and smiled as he passed her. James grinned.

"Hey, Melanie. See you in school," James said, purposefully beginning in a deeper voice than his normal voice, before it cracked on the word school. With his ears turning red, he hurriedly sped up. Lily and Albus snickered.

At Gringotts, the family piled into one of the carts headed by a goblin. Lily loved coming to Gringotts. It had been her favorite part about coming to Diagon Alley with her family to shop for Albus and James. The ride was exhilarating; the wind blowing her hair forcefully back, the colors blurring together. Once, she thought she even saw a dragon. Even now, she couldn't help laughing out loud with Al as they flew down one track and went around the curve. Al loved Gringotts just as much, maybe even more than Lily, and he found everything so fascinating. The goblins, the intricate pathway, the money system. James, on the other hand, hated the ride. He often got sick and he thought the goblins were rather creepy. He groaned as the cart switched tracks abruptly, causing the whole family to bounce up and down.

"Are we almost there yet?" He moaned, paling and turning slightly green.

The cart came to a skidding stop. James was the first one out, hopping over the side to steady ground. The goblin gave him a dirty look.

"Vault 612," the goblin, named Ashmud, said in a gravely voice. He performed an intricate ritual of running his fingers along the wall, pressing in places and twisting things that Lily couldn't see. Finally, a door materialized.

"Thank you, Ashmud," her father said politely. The family of five entered their vault.

Lily knew her family was rich. Her grandfather, who her brother was named after, was the only child of a very rich and very famous wizarding family. They had many estates that just continued to collect interest, even as they sat for years, long after both her great-grand parents and grandparents had passed on. Her grandmother, her namesake, came from not a poor family, but much less endowed then James Potter. Lily thought it was the smarts with money her grandmother must have had that ensured her husband and future family members had plenty of money. Her father, Harry, had of course inherited all of this.

Despite this knowledge, it was still always a shock to enter the vault and see the mountains of gold, piles upon piles. Galleons, sickles, and knuts, along with a few family heirlooms, including a blood stained sword that none of the children had the courage to ask their father about. It was shocking, as the kids weren't used to having a lot of money. Sure, they had a really nice house, and really nice things, but the children had to do chores each week for allowance, and if they really needed something they couldn't afford with their own allowance, they had to propose the case to their parents and prove that they really did need it that badly.

Once her parents had taken out the money they needed, they headed back out into the blinding sunlight.

"Okay," her mother began. "Al, you've shot up over the past year. You'll need some new robes. Lily needs some, too."

"I need to get more potions supplies," James piped in.

"Well," Harry started. "I'll take James and get all the kids' potion supplies. Ginny, did you want to take Al and Lily to get their robes? We can meet at the bookstore in half an hour."

With a plan set, James and Harry took off in one direction, James already talking his father's ear off, while Lily and Al followed their mother in the opposite direction. Lily walked up next to her mom and slipped her hand into Ginny's.

"Thanks, Mum," she said quietly. Ginny turned and smiled at her daughter, squeezing her hand before letting go.

The three Potters entered Madame Malkin's Robes for All Occasions. There was already one other boy, a blonde, being fitted with his back to the Potters. Madame Malkin tittered about around him.

"Oh, my dear, you have gotten so tall," she clucked, bending down to work on the hem of the robes. "I don't think I can let the hem out on these any more. You'll simply just have to get new ones."

"Alright, that's fine," the boy said in a smooth voice, still unchanged by puberty.

The boy stepped off the pedestal and walked out on to the floor, without even noticing the family. Madame Malkin turned around.

"Ah! Mrs. Potter!" She cried, rushing forward to say hello. "How nice to see you again. What can I do for you today?"

Ginny pushed the kids forward. "Al's robes have gotten too short, and it's Lily's first year."

Madame Malkin nodded, pushing both children up on the stools, before running off to get some robes for them to wear.

"I'm going to look around the shop," Ginny said as she walked off.

Al and Lily stood there for a moment, looking around.

"So are you excited for Hogwarts?" Al asked softly.

Lily looked at her brother. She loved both of them, very much (much more than she would ever let them know, anyway.) While James and she often fought, their personalities much too vivacious and rambunctious to be in one room together for long without a fight, Al had always been the quiet one. Her mother often called Al her good son. Even as a baby, he never cried or fussed. Al had always been the practical one, the voice of reason in the family. He was incredibly intelligent (he confessed to her in secret that the Sorting Hat had tried to put him in Ravenclaw but he begged for Gryffindor.) He was calm, cool, confident, collected. Everything Lily wasn't.

It was for these reasons that Lily knew she could trust Al with her confession.

"I'm afraid," she said softly.

"Why?"

"What if I don't get put in Gryffindor?"

"Oh, Lils," he said, with a slight roll of the eyes. "You know you can ask the Sorting Hat to put you there if it tries to put you anywhere else."

"Yeah, but I don't want to ask. If it doesn't think I belong there in the first place, I don't want to put myself where I don't belong."

Al was silent. Lily wondered if she went too far.

"I think," he said quietly, looking at his feet. "That our choices define where we belong. Besides, you most definitely are a Gryffindor."

Lily smiled. She opened her mouth to thank him, but the blonde boy had come back, with a set of robes in his hands. He looked at them warily, walking up to his stool.

"Hello, Scorpius," Al said. The blonde, Scorpius, nodded. Lily stared at him. He was the same height as her brother, James, and thin, with dirty blonde hair and startling grey eyes. Lily thought he was rather cute, her ears turning red at the thought.

"Good afternoon, Albus." Al frowned. While he wasn't on such terrible terms with Scorpius as James was, they weren't best friends, either.

Scorpius pulled off his current robes. He was wearing jeans and a t-shirt underneath, and he pulled on the new set in his hands before resuming his place on the stool.

Lily shifted, suddenly uncomfortable. It was awkwardly silent. She was very grateful when Madame Malkin returned within a few moments of the boy's arrival.

"Here, try this." She handed a black set of robes to Albus. She turned to Lily, shaking her head. "Sorry for the wait, dear, but I'm afraid I had some trouble finding something your size. This is my smallest, but we'll still have to take it in quite a bit."

Lily grumbled. She was not _that_ small. She heard a snicker to her left. She wasn't quite sure who had laughed, but she glared at Al anyway. Her brothers were always teasing her for her size. Size was no guarantee of power, her uncle George always said, but it didn't help when the bigger people had wands and you didn't.

As Madame Malkin tended to the three children, sticking sharp pins in unwanted places, Ginny returned.

"How's it going?" She asked, looking at her daughter who had to have at least fifty pins up and down her whole body. Lily glared at her mother. The doorbell tinkled.

All four heads to turned to see a man enter. He was dressed in Muggle clothing, jeans and a nice button down shirt. He had white blond hair, slicked back, with a pointed face and chin.

"Hello, Ginny," the man said to her mother. Lily glanced at her. How did she know this man?

"Good afternoon, Draco," her mother said, polite, but Lily could hear the tightness in her voice.

"Are we almost done here?" Draco asked Madame Malkin.

"Almost," Madame Malkins said, her voice muffled as she was holding pins with her mouth. Lily listened carefully to her mother and the man as they began to talk.

"How is Astoria?" Her mother asked.

"She's good. We just got back from holiday in France, visiting her family. It was a nice break for the three of us," he replied.

"Oh, yes, Harry did mention you were on holiday." Draco nodded.

"There you go, dear." Madame Malkin patted Scorpius on the shoulder. Lily, disappointed in the conversation between the adults, shifted impatiently. Scorpius pulled off the robes. As Draco paid for it, Scorpius turned to Al and Lily.

"Goodbye." Al nodded back and Lily waved as Draco returned to his son, placing a hand on his shoulder to guide him out of the store.

Lily dared not question Al about either the boy or the man, not while her mother sat there watching. After a few more sharp pokes, and a bit of a wait, Ginny, Al and Lily left the store with their purchases and headed towards the bookstore. Lily had no chance to ask Al anything, as just then James and her father joined them, laden with potion supplies for all three kids.

Lily soon forgot about the boy from the robe shop and asking her brother about him or her fears of not being placed in Gryffindor. The longer they shopped, the more anxious she became about getting a wand. They had put it off until the last moment.

The family entered Ollivander's, Lily bouncing excitedly ahead of the rest. James and Al sunk into the chairs, tired and bored by the end of the day. The old man who ran the shop, who frightened Lily with his strangeness, came to the front desk when he heard the bell on the door as it closed.

"Ah, the Potters!" He cried. "What can I do for you today?"

Harry put his hands on his daughter's shoulders. "Lily needs a wand."

Lily gripped her father's hands. Harry gave her a gentle push forward, pulling his hands out of her grasp. "Go on, Lily."

Ollivander reached out to her. She edged forward towards the man.

"Come on, dear," he said. He waved his hand and a measuring tape was hovering next to him. "I just need to take a few measurements."

After taking measurements, including the length of her earlobe, Ollivander waved his hand and the tape was gone.

"Now for the wand," he said, going back into the shop and bringing out many long, thin boxes. Lily tried the first dozen or so boxes with no luck, feeling very silly waving the wand around, trying to imitate her father, but nothing happened. She had just placed the last wand, a rather short, ugly, bumpy one, back in the box. Ollivander looked her up and down.

"Yes, I think I know the perfect wand for you." He disappeared again into the back. Lily looked at her father nervously. He winked. She swallowed. Ollivander reappeared.

"Try this one," he said, opening the box. In the velvet lay a beautiful wand. It was bright and smooth and long. Lily smiled and picked up the wand. The moment it touched her skin, she felt warmth flood her arm and go through her body. This was it. Grandly, she swished the wand and large, red and gold sparks shot from its end, filling the room, casting red shadows across every face.

"Ten and a quarter inches, Alder wood, with a phoenix feather core," Ollivander said softly. "Nice and swishy."

"What does all that mean?" Lily asked.

"It means," Ollivander looked at her, very seriously, "you will be a very powerful witch, Miss Potter."

Lily didn't stop smiling, even after they had gotten home that night.

Author's Notes: I hope you enjoyed it. Perhaps you noticed some minor changes. The ages of the children have been modified slightly to fit my story, such as Lily and Scorpius. It's only by a year though. Please review!


	2. Godric Gryffindor and Rose Weasley

Disclaimer: J.K. Rowling did it. Not me.

Merdarkandtwisty: Thank you. :]

Windows of the World: I love LilyxScorpius too! There aren't enough stories about them!

Bellibella: My Lily is an eleven-year-old girl. :] In all seriousness, I was hoping I made it clear that Lily, while still young and unsure, perhaps a little shy (Ollivander is scary!), is a pretty outgoing and confident girl. You'll see it evolve more as the story progresses.

Tommy: Fast enough? :]

Author's Note: This chapter is more of a filler chapter, depicting the rest of Lily's summer before she goes off to Hogwarts. I really wanted to show the family dynamic and introduce some more characters. The chapter didn't go the way I originally intended to but meh, oh well. I hope you enjoy.

Chapter 2: Godric Gryffindor and Rose Weasley

Lily's excitement for Hogwarts continued throughout the summer but she still had almost all of July and August until school. She spent most of her time playing Quidditch with her family. Her entire family loved the sport; her father had been a

Seeker as a first year, and her mother even played professionally. James had made the school team in his second year as a Chaser, like his mother. Since James needed someone to keep against him, he often made Albus, who had been wary of getting on a broom at first, keep for him, starting Al's love for the sport.

Lily started to fly at just four years old. All three of the kids had shared a toy broomstick, passed down from James, to Albus, and finally to Lily. When Albus turned five, Lily was finally able to have it, but before it could even be given to her, James had accidently stepped on it.

Lily cried and cried for hours, long after Ginny had sent James to his room and given Lily some sweets. Her father had come home from work to find Lily crying, locked in her room. Her father had unlocked the door with kind, soothing words, but he couldn't make Lily leave her closet.

"No!" She sniffled. "I don't want to come out!"

"Not even to fly?" her dad had said. Little Lily had lifted her head, and grabbed his outstretched hand.

That night was a night Lily swore she would never forget.

Her father had grabbed his broom and headed into the backyard, Lily eagerly following him. He placed the broom on the ground.

"Lily, put your hand over the broom and call it up." Lily shook her head.

"I can't do it."

"Sure, you can."

"No, I don't want to."

"Aw, please."

"No." She crossed her arms and pouted.

"Well, you don't know what you're missing," her father said, smiling, as he slowly reached his arm out over the broom. Lily beat him to it. She thrust out her little arm and cried, "UP!"

The broom turned over on the ground.

"See?" Her dad said. "You made it move."

"But I couldn't make it come up, like you do." She sniffled, almost back to tears.

"Yeah, but its rolling over is a good thing."

"It is?"

"Sure it is. It's like a dog rolling over onto his back to have his belly scratched. The broom likes you."

Lily grinned. Her father stretched out his hand, called up, and flung his leg over the broom. He pushed off the ground, hovering just a few feet above the ground.

"Daddy!" Lily cried. "Daddy, don't forget me!"

Her father reached down and grabbed his daughter's hand, easily pulling her up onto the broom in front of him.

"Hold on tight, now," he said as Lily gripped the handle in front of her as hard as she could.

And they were off. Harry pushed off the ground, sending the two of them soaring up higher and higher. They flew for almost an hour, and not just around her home but also all throughout the country. They were up so high, flying through the clouds, flying so fast, and soon they were surrounded by the stars.

Lily was laughing, reaching for the stars, but she couldn't get a hold of any of them. Her father was laughing and whooping behind her, enjoying this as much as her.

Later that night when they finally had gotten back home, cold and shivering but happier than anything, Ginny had screamed and screamed at both of them, saying things like how reckless it was and about Lily's safety, but all Lily could think about was being so high, the entire world down below, just spending time with the millions of stars stretched out before her eyes.

Lily had been flying ever since.

So she spent the entire summer practicing with James and Albus, helping them prepare for the upcoming seasons. She played various positions. She played chaser against Al when he played keeper. She played as a beater a lot, as it was good practice for both her brothers. She was a decent chaser, and an all right beater, but too small to ever be successful as one. Her best position was clearly seeker, but she didn't play it often as they lived in a Muggle village, and seeker wasn't need when it was just the five of her family. She only played seeker during the summer on her cousin Rose's birthday.

It was August 31. The day before leaving for Hogwarts. It was also Rose's birthday and the Godric's Hollow festival. Every August 31, a big festival was thrown in honor of Godric's Hollow and its founder Godric Gryffindor. It was a cute muggle ordeal, with many of the villagers participating. Some people sold items at makeshift carts. There were small games set up along with food carts. It was generally a good time for everyone.

The Potters and Weasleys always spent the day together outside on the street, enjoying the festival, before going back to her Aunt and Uncle's for a Quidditch game and an outdoor barbeque birthday party for Rose. They had done it for years.

This is what Lily was getting ready for the morning of August 31. She was standing in front of the mirror, picking and pulling at her hair. It was too red for her taste, although it had been getting darker as she got older. Disgruntled, she pulled it back into a ponytail. It should be out of her face for the game later, anyway. She pulled on her old jeans and a tank top. She was tying the laces to her runners when James appeared in the doorway.

"Hey, Lils, are you almost ready?" He was in jeans and a t-shirt, his black hair untamed in the back where it never seemed to lay flat. "Mum says we're leaving soon."

"Sure." She pulled tight on her laces one last time. "Let's go."

Her brother put his arm around her shoulder, a sweet gesture until he shoved her on the stairs. She shoved back. The two bounded down the staircase, shoving and pushing each other the whole way, laughing.

Albus was already in the living room. He was curled up on the sofa, a schoolbook in hand, reading peacefully until James entered. James swiped the book out of Al's hands.

"Hey!" Al protested.

"Come on, nerd." James threw the book to the corner. "It's the last day of summer. Who reads books during the summer, anyway?"

Albus got up grumbling, mumbling something about people who actually passed their classes. The three children headed out to the front porch to meet their parents.

"Ready?" their dad asked. The kids nodded, and they headed into the town square.

The festival was set up around the statue in the center of the square. Lily often came out here at night to sit on the statue and read or write in her journal. She would look up into the face of her grandmother, her namesake and wonder what she was like, wishing she was still alive to talk with. Lily was sure that her grandmother would have the most interesting stories to tell.

Of all of the children, Lily was the one who thought about her father and his past the most. It was most disconcerting to find out that the bedtime stories he used to tell her—grand stories of fighting dragons and trolls and giant dogs with three heads—were actually real. Sometimes the magnitude of what her father had done and how he had saved the world overwhelmed her so she would just sit here and look into the face of her grandparents and her father as a baby until she was calm.

Today, as the family passed, both Harry and Lily Potter gave the monument, transformed just for their eyes, a long look before moving on into the loud, rambunctious crowd. Standing on her tiptoes, Ginny looked around the square.

"I don't see them," she muttered to her husband. Harry looked around as well.

"Harry! Ginny!" Turning to the voice, the family saw their relatives pushing their way through the crowd towards them.

Hermione was waving wildly and dragging her son, Hugo, who looked rather put out to be holding his mother's hand, along. Ron stood out as he was taller than most of the crowd, Rose by his side, the two strolling along casually behind Hermione and Hugo.

"Ron, Hermione!" Harry and Ginny exclaimed. The adults exchanged hugs, handshakes and kisses as Rose and Hugo joined Lily, James and Albus.

"Hey!" Hugo said excitedly, joining Albus and Lily. The three of them had always been very close. Rose and James, as the older siblings, tended to group off alone, not wanting their little siblings to follow them everywhere.

"Hey," Albus and Lily replied.

The families split into two groups. The adults mingled in the square, and the children, armed with muggle money, went to enjoy the festival.

The festival was a fun time as always. As the adults sat at a small café in town, overlooking the festivities and catching up, the children ran through the games and carts. James and Hugo signed up to have pies thrown at them, and Lily proved her skill as a Chaser by hitting James in the face on her first try. Rose had less luck, but she still managed to cream her brother by throw three. The five ate funnel cake and cotton candy and caramel apples (Lily's favorite). James had won Lily a stuffed sheep by knocking down all the cans at one booth with a softball. When Hugo tried, he got a complimentary prize of a blow up sword, which he gave to his sister, just because it was her birthday. Rose smiled politely and thanked him, but managed to pop it discreetly and throw it away when Hugo wasn't looking.

It was a little after lunch time that the festival began to wrap itself up. People packed away their items for sale, taking down the umbrellas and tables used for their shop. The kids met their parents at the statue.

"You kids have fun?" Hermione asked.

"Yes!" All five of them proclaimed. They were smiling, their faces a little burnt from having spent all morning in the sun.

The families headed down the winding path towards the Weasley home. Hugo ran ahead to walk with his mother, rambling on about his day and exactly what they had all done.

"And then at the pie event, Lily hit James on her first try!" he was saying, enthusiastically, as his mother nodded with a bemused smile. " It was a good throw, too. She creamed him right in his face. He was covered! James was mad, of course. But even he couldn't deny it was a good throw."

"Did Lily hit you too?" Hermione asked, grabbing the collar of her son's shirt, where there was still whipped cream.

"Nah," Hugo said. "That was Rose. You should have seen her at the one booth though, Mum! You had to hit the weight at the bottom with a hammer and how high it went said how strong you were. There was a muggle in front of her, he couldn't get it to go higher than five feet, and Rose just take the hammer and _nails_ it! It hit the top bell!"

Rose smirked.

"That boy sure can talk," Harry said to Ron. Ron nodded with a grin.

"It's something he got from his mother."

Upon arriving at the Weasley home, Hugo and James changed into clean clothes. Hermione made them all sandwiches for a late lunch. Harry and Ron sat at the island in the kitchen on stools, sipping their drinks, discussing the upcoming Quidditch game.

"So what are the teams going to be?" Harry asked Ron.

"Well, we have Rose and Hugo as beaters for one team. George is coming to the game, he can play as beater for the other team. I'm keeping. Are you playing as Seeker?"

"Nah." Harry shook his head. "Lily wants to play Seeker. I'll probably sit out, unless I'm needed. Ginny's going to play, though. As Chaser, with James."

"Ginny's playing?" Ron groaned. "Now the Weasleys are really going to lose."

Meanwhile, James and Hugo were playing Exploding Snap in Hermione's impeccably clean living room.

"Mum's gonna kill you, Hugh," Rose said as she entered with Lily. "She spent all morning cleaning for the party."

"Yeah, yeah." He waved her off, stacking a card on the top of the pyramid. The entire room held its breath and the tower teetered, nearly falling over before regaining its balance.

Rose took a seat on the couch next to James, while Lily sat on the floor next to the game.

"I call winner." Lily said.

"I doubt there will be time," Al said, without even looking up from the game. He quickly placed a card down, the tower holding steady. "Everyone's due to arrive in a few minutes."

As if to prove his point, the doorbell rang.

"I'll get it," Rose called, getting up to answer the door.

There were loud movements in the foyer as the parents joined Rose. Loud voices carried down to the living room. George and Angelina had arrived.

Hugh placed his card down and balanced it perfectly before taking his hand away, just as little Fred came running into the room. He slid right into the game, taking down the tower of cards as well as Hugo, Albus and Lily with it.

"No!" Hugo yelled, his voice muffled from being stuck under Lily. "I was just about to win!"

"Sorry!" Fred said. "Look, I can fix it, the cards didn't explode yet."

Fred pulled all the cards into a pile, scooped them up in his hands and handed the to Hugo.

"See, look. They're fine."

Hugo looked skeptical as he took the cards, and they exploded in his face. Coughing and sputtering, his face and clothing as well as the floor around him covered in soot and ash, he glared at Fred and stalked off towards the kitchen. Lily followed.

"Don't be so mad at him," she hissed.

"He exploded my cards!" Hugo yelled.

"Hugh, he's just a little kid. He doesn't know what he's doing." Lily grabbed the vacuum. "Go change, I'll clean up in the living room."

Grumbling, Hugo headed upstairs and Lily went back into the living room, empty of everyone now except for Fred, who was attempting to brush the ash into his hands and throw it out.

"Hey." Lily nudged him gently out of the way and started to vacuum. "Don't mind Hugh. He can be a git."

Fred sat on the floor and nodded glumly. Lily stopped the vacuum and nudged him with her foot.

"Hey, come on. You know, your dad is gonna kick his arse in the game today."

Fred grinned wickedly.

The game took placed late that afternoon. Her dad and Uncle Ron had somehow transformed the backyard into a Quidditch pitch, and placed many anti-muggle charms on the area to keep the muggles out and unable to see the game. There was apparently a boundary around the whole area, and as Lily looked around the field, she swore that there more trees than usual and the neighbors' house was just a small blemish on the horizon.

The final teams came down to Team Rose, in honor of her birthday, and Team Potters plus George and Bill (George insisted that they couldn't be lumped into 'Team Potters'). On Team Rose, Ron was Keeper, Rose and Hugo were Beaters, Charlie was Seeker, and Victoire, Louis and Dominique were Chasers. On Team Potters plus George and Bill, Al was Keeper, George and Bill were Beaters (a choice, Bill said, he might regret), Lily was Seeker, and James, Ginny and Teddy Lupin were Chasers.

The rest of the Weasley family sat on the back deck of Hermione and Ron's house. Molly Weasley was playing with baby Molly, who was not even two years old yet. Percy was standing above her with his wife, Audrey, and the three were talking as Molly blew a raspberry on her granddaughter's stomach. Little Molly giggled. Angelina was sitting at a table with her daughter, Roxy, and Fred, who at four and eight, respectively, were too young to play in the Quidditch game. Fleur was with her, and the two were talking. Arthur was with Hermione, who was cooking the food. Every year, he was still just as fascinated with the muggle grill.

Every year the family always said that the game was just a friendly game, barely mattering. But every year, the game got more serious as the kids got older. Rivalries had begun to form, and the result of the game was talked about almost until Christmas time.

Harry, who was refereeing the game, tried to remind them about this.

"Okay, guys," he said, playing with the whistle in his hands. "This is just a friendly match, remember. Lily's only eleven so don't be too rough."

Lily rolled her eyes.

"Alright, Ginny and Ron, shake hands."

"You're going down, Gin," Ron said.

"Oh please, just like you said last year when I kicked your butt?"

Lily walked up to Charlie.

"Don't go easy on me," she said seriously, her eyes narrowed. Charlie laughed and patted her on the shoulder.

"Okay, kid."

"I mean it!" she said. Lily hated it when people didn't take her seriously because of her size. But she would show him. "I won't go easy on you."

Lily walked back to her team, a little nervous. This was the first year she was allowed to play in the real game. Usually, she was stuck in the kids' game after dinner, where they played with soccer balls just barely above the ground. There was no fun in the chase of the snitch if your team wasn't seriously playing. Charlie was a really good Seeker, too. Lily closed her eyes and breathed in slowly, calming herself.

"On my mark," Harry said. He blew the whistle.

The teams were off. Lily pushed into the air, and began to fly large, lazy circles around the pitch, high above the ground, keeping a sharp eye out for the snitch. Charlie joined her, flying in the opposite direction.

Her team was solid. Ginny was exceptionally talented and had taught both James and Teddy as they were growing up. The three flew towards the goal, James tossing the Quaffle to Teddy, who rolled out of the way of a Bludger hit by Hugo. Rose was ready on the other side and hit the Bludger right back towards Teddy, hitting him and forcing him to drop the Quaffle. Rose and Hugo, who argued constantly, were an impeccable team on the field, all arguments left on the ground.

Victoire caught the Quaffle, and headed towards Albus. George hit a Bludger in her direction but she dropped the Quaffle into her brother's arms and dove out of the way. Louis sped off towards the goals, his speed allowing his father's Bludger to miss him easily. He threw the ball towards the center goalpost and Al caught it easily.

As the very close game progressed, with no sign of the snitch, Lily could see the dynamics of the teams. While her team had incredible Chasers, and one good beater (nothing against her Uncle Bill, but it was clear he hadn't played a lot of that position to begin with, not to mention how long it had been since he'd played), they had Bill as a beater and her brother keeping.

_And me as a Seeker_, she thought. She shook her head, trying not to let the nerves get the better of her.

Her brother was talented, but he was only twelve, and Louis, who was in his fifth year at Hogwarts, was chaser on the Gryffindor team, and Victoire had been captain in her years at Hogwarts. Dominique, a third year, was a chaser on the Ravenclaw team. Despite this, their skills were no match for her Chasers. Her mother made sure that the possession of the Quaffle stayed mostly with her team.

The problem was, her uncle was also a good keeper. However, once he missed one, he started to let more in until he regained his confidence. There was also Rose and Hugo to worry about. Despite their young age, their teamwork as beaters was fierce, and James and Teddy were continuously forced by the Bludgers to drop the Quaffle or pass more often than needed, slowing down the scoring process.

It was becoming clearer that the game would come down to who caught the snitch. Lily swallowed nervously. They had been playing for a while now, and the score was 60-40, in Team Rose's favor. She picked up the pace of her flying, straining to see something, _anything_.

Then the snitch flew right in front of her face. She lashed out at it, missing the ball. It hovered for a split second in front of her, as if teasing her, before flying straight up and out of sight.

Lily leaned down low against her broom and took off after the ball, cursing to herself. Her pause had caused her to miss the snitch and now she may have lost it. Speeding up, she continued to fly straight up into the air, leaving the game down below her. Charlie, who had been watching the game more than looking for the snitch, saw her leave a little late, and was now flying fast to try and catch up with her.

Up in the air, Lily saw the snitch, still going upwards. She reached her hand out for it, still a distance away. This was it. She was getting closer. She could catch the snitch and win the game! Her fingertips were just inches away from it when the strangest things happened in quick succession.

As if hitting a wall, the snitch suddenly stopped, and bounced off in the other direction. Lily, confused, went to turn and follow but found herself hitting the invisible wall as well with a crunch. The impact was surprising and unexpected, and the angle of the broom paired with the way she had been sitting, loosely holding on, left her in a bad position to suddenly hit an invisible wall.

As she fell backwards off her broom, she calmly thought that this invisible wall had to have been one of the boundaries her father and uncle had put up to keep the balls inside their Quidditch Pitch. There was a rushing in her ears as she fell, her back rushing to the ground, as she looked up into the sky. It was deceptive, she couldn't help but think. The sky stayed there, the same size, as if she wasn't falling, betraying the truth that she was rushing to the ground.

Then Lily opened her mouth and started screaming.

"Harry, I think you should play as Seeker for the rest of the game."

Her mother, her Aunt Hermione and her grandmother had sat Lily on the ground and were hovering around her, making sure she was alright.

She _was_ alright, as she kept trying to tell her family. Her uncle Charlie had been just a bit below her, also chasing the snitch, when she started to fall. He caught her easily and she rode with him on his broom to catch her broom and go back to the ground. Once Charlie got close enough to the action, he signaled to Harry for a time out. Charlie landed, promptly told the family what had happened, and caused the flock of worrisome women to suddenly surround Lily.

"I'm fine!" Lily protested, standing up. "It was an accident. I'm fine. Let's continue the game."

"Harry." Hermione shot her father a look.

"Lils, maybe it's not the greatest idea that you finish the game," Harry said softly.

"NO! Dad, you don't understand!" she exclaimed, rushing towards her father. "I never get to play. Let me finish, please!"

She stared at her father, blue eyes wide, and jutted her lower lip into her best pout.

"Lily Luna Potter, suck that lip back in before you trip on it," her mother said. "You are not to play the game and that's final."

"Mum, no! That's not fair!" Lily stormed off to pick her broom off the ground. "You've had worse things happen to you, and you still got to play!"

"I was a professional," her mother said coolly. Harry glanced between his daughter and his wife, looking eerily similar with their bright red hair, angry stance and murderous glare.

"Ginny, let her play." Ginny rounded angrily on her husband. He put his hands up in front of him in a truce offering. "If she promises not to fly that high again, and to hold on tight."

"I promise, Daddy! Thank you, thank you, thank you!" She ran over to her father and threw her arms around his waist. Harry laughed and mused her hair.

"Be careful." He told her, but Lily had already run off to join her teammates.

Back in the air, the game continued for a while longer. Charlie followed Lily more closely this time, and they continued to circle the field, much lower than before. The two seekers were behind Albus when Lily saw the snitch.

James had just scored and the two had watched him take the shot. The score was now 130-100, still in Team Rose's favor. The snitch was floating, just behind James's head. Lily took off again at full speed, lying flat along her broom.

"Shit," she heard her uncle murmur behind her.

She was halfway across the field by now. Rose or Hugo, she wasn't sure which, hit a Bludger towards her. She rolled over in the air, the Bludger passing so close to her broom handle that she felt it brush against her fingers harmlessly. Flipping right side up, she flew straight through Dominique, Louis and Victoire. The three siblings scattered as Lily, followed closely by Charlie, flew through. She could hear Charlie gaining speed. He was almost right next to her.

"No, no, no," she muttered. "Go faster. Go!"

She urged her broom to go faster, pulling ahead by just a little bit. She let go of the broom with one hand, stretching her arm out, reaching for the snitch. Charlie did the same thing on her right. Despite his lag behind her, his long arms reached to just about the same spot as her short arms did.

"Go, Lilybean, go!" her father called from the ground. And as if knowing how tempted Lily was to look over to him, he added: "Don't take your eyes of the snitch!"

Forcing her focus back on the snitch, Lily was determined to win this game for Dad, who had taught her how to fly and how to play Quidditch.

"James, watch out!" Ron called from the goalpost as Lily and Charlie got closer. James, in mid celebration of his score, looked behind him to see the snitch and two Seekers flying right at him. He dove out of the way just in time.

Lily stretched her arm as far as she could and reached for the snitch. She felt Charlie's hand close over hers as she wrapped her fingers around the snitch. Pulling up and out of the chase, her hand holding the snitch high above her head with pride, she shouted with happiness. She heard her team members' cheer.

Her brothers tackled her as she landed on the ground.

"Lily, that was awesome!" James shouted. Al nodded fervently.

"Absolutely incredible!" The three children were jumping up and down, shouting with glee and cheering.

"Team Potter wins, 250 to 130!" Her father called, as he walked over to his children.

"Team Potter plus George and Bill!" George added as he landed.

"Dad!" Lily broke free from her brothers' arms and ran towards her dad. He bent down with his arms open, catching Lily as she jumped into the hug. She clung tightly to him, laughing, as he spun her around. He placed her back on the ground.

"Congratulations, Lilybean." She beamed and placed the snitch into her dad's hand.

"I won it for you." Lily ran back to her brothers, who were now being congratulated by the rest of their team. Harry watched his daughter go. Glancing down at the snitch placed in his hand, he couldn't help but smile. He felt a small hand slip into his own. Turning, he looked at his wife.

"She loves you very much," Ginny said quietly to him. Harry smiled, and swallowed hard.

"Yeah," he choked out. "I know."

The game was the main conversation that night at the dinner table. Two long tables had been set up in the middle of the backyard, now transformed back to its original state. They all helped themselves to a mostly delightful meal. It was clear what meals Grandma Weasley made and what Hermione had made: Hermione's food, black and charred, lay untouched at one end of the table.

"Did you see that score James made?" Angelina was saying to Ginny as she mashed the food on her daughter's plate. "Your son is quite talented."

George, on the other side of his wife, was staring at Ron a few seats down. Ron shifted, uncomfortable.

"What?" George looked to Rose and Hugo, sitting across their parents. He shook his head, mouth agape, flabbergasted. "What, George?"

George turned back to Ron. "You've finally done something right with your life."

The family laughed but George continued. "No, seriously. These two are ferocious. Gryffindor will be _unstoppable_ when Hugh is placed on the team with Rose."

"Even more so when Lily is placed as seeker," Charlie added, winking at his niece. Lily frowned.

"Did you go easy on me?" she asked. Charlie laughed.

"Kid, I wish I had gone easy on you. The loss would be easier on my ego then."

The large family stayed out late. The cake was brought out as the sun was setting. The entire family sang Rose happy birthday, as her ears turned as red as her curly, bushy hair.

After the cake had been eaten, and the presents opened, the little kids were allowed to ride their brooms, hovering just above the grass. Molly was a nervous wreck as she watched Roxy slide off her broom.

"Molly, calm down," Angelina said, sparing a critical glance for her youngest. Fred got off his broom and helped his little sister up, brushed the grass off of her, and helped her back on her broom. "Her feet touch the grass when she flies."

The older children flew up to the roof of the house, having their own party up there. As the other kids talked, Lily lay next to her Firebolt, looking at the stars, thinking. Al laid on her other side. The siblings lay in a comfortable silence.

"Where did Teddy and Tori go?" James asked. Dominique snorted.

"Probably to snog somewhere."

"Shh," Rose said. "The show's about to begin."

All of the kids turned to the sky, looking up quietly and patiently. Every year, Uncle George set off a grand display of Weasleys' Wild-Fire Whiz Bangs to say goodbye to summer. As the flashes went off, the kids oohed and aahed the fireworks.

"Oooh, look!" Rose cried, pointing up. The fireworks had just formed 'Happy Birthday, Rose!', complete with her face in fireworks next to it.

The flashes continued, casting colored shadows across the faces of the children. It was a warm summer night. Lily couldn't help but think, as she lay on the roof, warm, full and happy, surrounded by her family, her closest friends, that this was going to be the best year yet.

Author's Note: Wow. Eleven pages. I hope you enjoyed it. As a general note, I don't update until I get at least one review so… Please review!


	3. The Sorting

**Disclaimer: Anything you recognize isn't mine. I only created the OC characters.**

**Merdarkandtwisty: This is a romance story between Lily and Scorpius. But because Lily is only a first year, and Scorpius is a third year and I have all seven years left to write, the romance will be spread out a bit. But don't worry! There will be some adorable moments coming up!**

**WindowsoftheWorld: I love Lily's relationship with Harry. She's such a daddy's girl. :]**

**Author's Note: Here we go! Now it's time for Hogwarts! Enjoy. :]**

Chapter Three: The Sorting

September First was like Christmas to Lily. She woke up with a start earlier than any one else in her family. Yawning, she walked into her bathroom. James and Albus often complained that Lily got her own bathroom, as a bathroom connected the two of their rooms, but her parents said that as a girl, she needed her own bathroom. Lily smiled.

Sometimes it was good to be a girl.

By the time Lily was done showering and dressing, she could hear some movement downstairs and delightful smells were drifting up the staircase. Lily sat down on top of her trunk—all of her possessions were already packed—and looked around her room. It looked empty. Her desk, usually a chaotic mess, was cleaned and all the papers were put away. The shelves above her desk were emptier than usual, as Lily couldn't bear to leave behind most of her books.

"Lily, are you awake?" Her mom's voice came up the stairs.

"Yeah," she called back. "I'll be right there."

Downstairs, her mother was making breakfast for the family. Her brothers sat, droopy eyed and half awake, at the table with their father, reading the Daily Prophet and drinking tea.

"Morning, Lils," her father said. Lily sat at the table.

After breakfast, the family of five loaded themselves into Harry's car. All trunks were placed in the magically expanded trunk. Lily sat in between her brothers in the backseat, the owl all three of the children shared at school sitting in her lap. He was a beautiful creature, a Snowy Owl, with large hazel eyes. Currently, he was hooting reproachfully at being stuck in Lily's lap. The two of them had never got along well.

"Give me Quaffles," James said, taking the owl from Lily's lap.

"Gladly," she said dryly. Quaffles was technically James' owl. Her parents bought it for him when he turned eleven and being an eleven-year old boy, he had named the poor owl after his favorite sport. However, instead of buying three owls, one for each child, making a total of four in their house, Ginny and Harry had made James promise that he would let Lily and Albus use Quaffles at school.

The family was silent on the long ride to London. Lily had made this trip twice before but this time… This time it mattered. It was for her. She looked out the window, watching the scenery rush by in a blur, her heart beating fast. She was so excited.

Upon arrival, the family jumped out of the car and the kids began to pull their trunks towards Platform 9 ¾. Harry took the trunk out of Lily's hands without a word and took her hand with his free hand.

"James, you go first," Ginny said. Lily watched eagerly as her brother took off towards the platform at run, only to be swallowed up by the brick. "Come on, Al."

Ginny and Al took a more leisurely pace into the brick wall, disappearing from sight. Harry squeezed his daughter's hand.

"Ready, Lilybean?" Lily nodded her head enthusiastically. Harry laughed.

The two passed through the brick wall and were greeted on the other side by the sight of the large, red Hogwarts Express. Lily thought it was the most beautiful thing she had ever seen. There were crowds of students calling out to friends and parents fussing over their children. It was loud, the voices of students mixing with their owls' hooting and cats' meowing.

"Harry!" Hermione was standing by the train with the rest of the family, waving towards Lily and Harry. The Potter-Weasley clan was easily the most noticeable as there were just _so _many of them, almost all of them with red hair. Harry and Lily headed over to them, slowed down by the massive crowd. Lily stood with Hugo and Albus as they waited for the adults to finish their talk and the fathers loaded the kids' trunks onto the train.

"Ginny?" A dreamy voice floated across the crowd. Ginny looked around.

"Luna!" she cried. Ron groaned. Ginny ran to meet her friend, pulling her into a hug. "I haven't seen you in ages. How've you been? You look great."

"Thank you," the blonde witch replied. "I've been good. We spent the summer down in Greece. There are just the most fascinating creatures there."

Ginny nodded, politely, leading Luna over to her family. Rolf and her two sons, Lorcan and Lysander, followed quietly. The adults exchanged pleasantries with Luna, as Lily stared at the boys.

"Lily, you remember Lorcan and Lysander," Luna said, pushing her boys forward. Lily nodded, despite not remembering them. She had only met her mother's friend a few times, and perhaps her children only once or twice. They were strange people. The identical blondes nodded at Lily, and she smiled in return.

"Okay, Lily," her mother said, turning to her, straightening her collar. "I want you to behave at school. Make sure you write sometime in the next week, let us know how things are going, what house you were sorted into."

"Gryffindor," Ron said in a terrible fake cough. Hermione smacked him hard on the arm.

"And you, James," Ginny rounded on him. "I want you to keep an eye on your little sister. Don't even try to pull any tricks. And please, for once, wait at least a week before doing something stupid!"

The whistle of the train blew and Lily's heart skipped a beat. The older kids, like Louis and Dominique and James, got on the train first, waving goodbye to their parents. Hugo and Lily, were trapped in a series of hugs and kisses by their parents.

"Be good! Be safe!" Hermione called as Hugo and Lily stepped onto the train. Lily stopped and looked back at her parents.

"Bye, Daddy," she said softly.

"I love you, Lilybean," he said, smiling.

The train began to move. Lily waved one last time before stepping on.

She was on her way to Hogwarts.

"Well, as much as I'd like to stay and chat, I'm needed in the prefects car," Louis said, before pushing through the crowd of Weasleys and walking down the hallway.

"I'm meeting some friends from Ravenclaw. _Au revoir, mes cousins_." Dominique blew them kisses and walked off.

"Come on." James turned and walked off, waving them after him. "Let's find a compartment before they're all full."

The third one they tried was empty and all of them piled in. James, as the tallest and strongest, helped them all put their trunks above the seats. Lily sat up against the window, Albus across from her with Lorcan, Hugo and Lysander on her other side. James and Rose took a seat, just in time for the compartment door to be opened again.

"James!" a tall black boy roared.

"Jesse!" James cried back. Jesse jumped into the seat next to James, slamming into him, causing a chain reaction that ended with Lily being slammed into the window.

"Ow!" she cried, leaning forward to glare at her brother. He wasn't even paying attention. Jesse jumped up and threw himself in the seat next to Rose to be across from James, jostling Rose.

"Don't worry, you get used to them," Rose said, rolling her eyes. With that, she promptly pulled out a book, and sank down behind it to read.

Jesse and James had only been talking for a few moments when the compartment door slid open again.

"Rose?" a small brunette asked quietly. Rose looked up.

"Jordie! Come sit," Rose pushed Jesse out of the way. "Move it."

Jordie entered, taking careful steps over everyone's leg to sit in the small space Rose was patting.

"How was your summer?" Rose asked, turning to her friend. Jordie launched into an intricate retelling of her trip to the Galapagos Islands.

"Hey, Al, Exploding Snap rematch?" Hugo asked excitedly.

"You're on!"

"Here, Lil, switch with me," Hugo pushed Lily up off her seat and slid over.

"Hugh!" She cried.

"James!" The compartment door slid open once again.

"You have _got_ to be kidding me." Lily groaned. "Excuse me."

She pushed herself past the unnamed face standing in the doorway, slamming the door shut behind her. _Finally_, she thought. She loved her family, she really did, but sometimes they could just be so . . . _overwhelming_. Lily took off down the hallway, peering into compartments looking for somewhere else, anywhere else, to sit for a little. She peered into one compartment and she could see the boy from Madame Malkins, Scormie or something like that, sitting inside, chatting animatedly to a tall, gangly boy with dark hair.

Finally, at the very last compartment sat two small girls, probably first or second years, talking quietly. They both looked very kind, one with blonde hair and a round, pink cheeked face, the other with dark brown hair up in a plait. Lily took her chances and slid open the compartment door.

"Hey," she said. "May I sit here?"

The two girls looked at each other before the blonde, who looked oddly familiar to Lily, smiled at her and said, "Sure."

"Thanks." Lily took a seat next to her. "I'm Lily Potter."

"I'm Emily Longbottom," the blonde said. "Our fathers are friends."

"_That's_ why I recognize you!" Lily exclaimed. "I knew I knew you from somewhere."

"I'm Olivia Finnegan," the dark hair girl said with a slight Irish accent.

"Do you guys know each other already?" Lily asked nervously, playing with the edge of her skirt, looking back and forth between the two girls.

"Yeah," Olivia said, with a smile to Emily. "Our mum and dads are friends, so we've spent a good deal of time together."

"But," Emily added, "All of our parents were at school together. And we're all first years! So we all sort of know each other already."

Lily smiled and relaxed into her seat. The three girls hit off from there. Lily discovered that Olivia loved football, something Lily found just fascinating, and Quidditch. She supported Puddlemere United, who were okay by Lily, but she was a fan of her mum's team, the Holyhead Harpies.

"Your mum was a Harpie?" Olivia had squealed when Lily told. She looked at Lily in a new light. "So you play Quidditch, right? What position?"

"Seeker," she said proudly. "Like my dad. I'm gonna ask McGonagall if I can try out as a first year."

"Really? I don't think they ever let first years play. My dad said McGonagall is really strict," Olivia said.

"My dad says she's alright," Emily said softly. Lily was already noticing that everything Emily did seemed very soft. "You just have to be on her good side."

"Besides," Lily tossed her long hair over her shoulder. "My dad played as a first year, so why can't I?"

The chat continued on to discuss the teachers they already knew about ("Won't it be weird to have your dad as your teacher?" Lily asked Emily, who responded with a shrug) to finally, the houses.

"What house do you think you guys will be in?" Emily asked.

"Gryffindor!" Olivia swelled with pride. "My mom was in Hufflepuff, so I guess that won't be too bad, but I'd rather be in Gryffindor."

"Practically everyone in my family has been in Gryffindor," Lily said matter-of-factly. "I'm even related to Godric Gryffindor."

The two girls stared in awe at Lily.

"You're life must be so cool," Olivia breathed. "Your mum is a Harpie, your dad is bloody Harry Potter, and you're related to Godric Gryffindor!"

Lily sat up straight and smiled.

"I'm not sure what house I'll be," Emily said.

"Em, you're dad is head of the Gryffindor house!" Olivia cried.

"I know," she continued. "But my mum was a Hufflepuff. I'm more like her."

The compartment door slid open and a tall girl in a Ravenclaw uniform with a prefect's badge entered.

"We're almost there," she said. The three girls jumped and looked outside. Indeed, the sky had gone dark. "You might want to change."

"Thanks," they all said as the girl left. Lily looked at her new friends.

"Well, I've got to get back to my compartment. But no matter what house we're sorted in, we'll keep talking, right?"

"Right." Emily and Olivia nodded. Lily turned and left with a huge smile on her face. The hallway was empty now, as most people were changing. She rushed back into her compartment. It was empty now of everyone but her family.

"Lily, where have you been?" Hugo asked with a frown.

"Sorry," she said as she changed into her Hogwarts robes. "I got caught up with a few other first years."

Hugo's frown deepened at this, but the train had pulled into the station and there was no time to talk. The family exited the train together, but were soon separated.

"Guys, you can't follow us," Rose said. "You're first years. Only upperclassmen get to ride on the carriages."

James and Al nodded and the trio walked off and got in a horseless carriage, leaving Hugo and Lily standing alone in the crowd.

"Lils, what do we do?" Hugo asked, his voice rising.

"I dunno," she replied. "They never told us what to do."

"Firs' years, this way!" A loud voice bellowed. "All firs' years, come this way!"

Lily and Hugo glanced at each other before taking off towards the voice they both knew so well. It was easy to spot him, towering above all the other students, waving a lantern.

"Hagrid!" the kids called. Hagrid turned to look at them.

"Lily! Hugo! All righ' there?"

"We're good. Hagrid, how do we get to the castle?" Hugo asked. Hagrid laughed.

"Well, yer takin' the boats with me!"

"Boats?" At that moment, Lily spotted Olivia and Emily.

"Come on, Hugo, I want you to meet my friends." She tugged on the sleeve of his robe. "Nice seeing you, Hagrid!"

"Olivia, Emily!" The two girls hurried towards Lily. "Olivia, Emily, this is my cousin Hugo. He's a first year, too."

The two girls smiled shyly at the Hugo, who blushed. The foursome continued along with the crowd. "Do you guys know how we're getting to Hogwarts?"

"Yeah," Hugo said. "Hagrid said we were taking the bo—_woah_."

The four looked up to see the glistening lake, lined with small boats.

"Alrigh', only four ter a boat," Hagrid called, taking one boat all to himself.

The four quickly clambered into a boat together. The ride across was fantastic. The stars reflected against the waters' surface, which was broken at one point by a long, lazy tentacle, stretching out of the sea. Most of the girls screamed, and the guys yelled "Cool!"

"Don' worry, tha's just the squid," Hagrid said, his voice easily carrying to all the boats stretched out across the lake.

All the students oohed as the grand castle came into view, large and inviting with its bright, warm windows. They clambered out of the boats and followed Hagrid up the stairs until they were in the Entrance Way of the Great Hall.

"Now, you lot just sit here tigh' until Professor McGonagall comes and gets ya." Hagrid walked off with a wave and wink to Hugo and Lily. Instantly, the hall broke out into nervous chatter.

"Do you know what they do for the sorting?" Olivia said nervously. "My dad wouldn't tell me!"

"My sister said that they make you duel the Head Boy and Head Girl, and how you fight determines what house you're in!" Hugo confided.

"James tried to tell me that, too." Lily rolled her eyes. Hugo stared at her. "Wait, Hugh, did you actually _believe_ her?"

"My dad told me. You just put on an old hat and you talk to it inside your head and then it puts you in a house." Emily patted Lily on the back, as she had been laughing so hard at Hugo that she had started coughing.

"Yeah," Lily sputtered out. "Al t-told me the same thing."

The door flew open with a band and an old witch with a cane entered slowly, walking with a small limp. All the children fell silent immediately. The woman looked over all of them with a hawk-like stare.

"That's McGonagall," Olivia breathed into Lily's ear. She swallowed, changing her mind about asking the woman about Quidditch.

"Welcome to Hogwarts," Professor McGonagall began in a gravely voice. "You will follow me into the Great Hall, in a single file line, and wait for your name to be called to be sorted."

The children scrambled into a line and followed McGonagall out. Hugo was in front of Lily, Olivia and Emily were behind her. As they entered the hallway, the whispering started up again, all of them, muggleborn or pureblood, amazed with the castle and its ceiling, charmed to show the sky outside. Lily glanced around. She could see her brothers and cousin sitting at the Gryffindor table. Dominique and Louis were in the middle of the Ravenclaw table.

Forcing her focus back on McGonagall, she saw that the woman had placed a stool with an old, patched hat in the center of the room. Lily watched it curiously, and gasped when it opened its seam, and began singing.

_I may be old and fraying_

_But there is more to me than you can see_

_You'll make yourself a fool to try to find_

_A smarter hat than me. _

_I am the Hogwarts Sorting Hat_

_There's nothing in your head that I can't see_

_So put me on your head_

_And I'll tell you where you ought to be._

_Perhaps in Gryffindor _

_Where the brave will live_

_Or maybe Hufflepuff_

_Who always have a hand to give?_

_You might belong to Ravenclaw_

_Where those with a keen mind_

_Intelligence and wit_

_Will find their own kind._

_Maybe in Slytherin_

_You'll find your friends_

_Whose cunning ambition_

_Surely meet their ends._

_So put me on your head_

_And have a chat with me._

_I will sort you, I will help you_

_Find the place you should be._

The students clapped at the end of the song and Professor McGonagall gave a sweeping glare to quiet the students as she opened the parchment.

"Amboy, Perth."

A small, dark haired boy stumbled forward from the front of the line. He climbed onto the stool, put the Hat on his head, and sat for a moment before it opened its mouth once more and cried:

"RAVENCLAW!"

The table second to the left cheered loudly as Perth Amboy walked over, blushing, and took a seat at the end of the table.

The sorting continued. Lily tried to pay attention, she really did, but it really was just a boring ceremony. She shifted impatiently, watching the stars twinkle on the ceiling. It wasn't until she heard a specific name did she pay attention.

"Finnegan, Olivia."

Olivia skipped forward and down the long line of students to sit on the stool. She placed the hat on her head. It considered her for a moment, before its seam opened again and cried:

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Olivia took off the hat, beaming, and ran off towards the far right table, where Lily could see her brothers cheering obnoxiously. Olivia took a seat just a few down from James and flashed a thumbs up to Lily and Emily. Lily smiled weakly in return.

"Finch-Fletchley, Oliver."

A boy with sandy brown hair made his way up to the stool.

"HUFFLEPUFF!"

Lily tried to count how many students were left in the line. She was just recounting to double check her answer when she heard Emily's name being called.

"Longbottom, Emily." Lily smiled at Emily as she passed, but Emily didn't seem to notice. She carefully took a seat on the stool. The hat deliberated on her, much longer than it had on anyone else. It was almost a full minute later when the hat reached a decision.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Blushing, Emily put the hat back on the stool and quickly took off, taking a seat next to Olivia, who high fived her. Lily's heart quickened; now she _had_ to be a Gryffindor!

Lily suddenly panicked as she realized L was not that far from P. With a start, she realized Hugo would be one of the last to be sorted.

"Potter, Lily." There was an odd silence as Lily walked to the stool. It hadn't seemed so far away for the other children. Students at the tables craned their necks to get a good look at her. She could hear the whispers already. She sighed. It sometimes could get annoying, being Harry Potter's daughter. Sitting on the stool, she swallowed and placed the hat on her head, which promptly fell down to her shoulders.

_Hmm... Let's see what do we have here?_

Please.

_Quite intelligent… very loyal… No, not a Hufflepuff. Definitely not the place for you. I don't think Ravenclaw either, despite your smarts._

Please.

_Extremely cunning… You would do well in Slytherin. No? You don't seem to like the idea._

Please_._

_Well then, if you insist... it will have to be_

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily jumped up so hard that the Hat fell off her head. Blushing, she ignored the other students' laughter and hurriedly handed the hat back to McGonagall, who was giving her a stern look. Lily took off toward the Gryffindor table, grinning widely at her brothers and cousin before sitting down with her friends.

"We're all in the same house!" she squealed as soon as she reached Olivia and Emily.

"That was quick," Emily whispered.

"Was it?"

"Yeah," Olivia nodded. "The hat had barely been on you for a second."

Lily opened her mouth to tell her how long it had felt sitting up there, but a prefect down the table shushed them. Lily stuck her tongue out at the boy.

"Scamander, Lorcan." Lorcan, the shorter twin (Lily noted, tucking away this information for later), walked up the stool.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

"Scamander, Lysander." Lily wondered what would happen if you were twins. Did you automatically get put into the same house?

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Either way, the brothers would stay together. Lily had been right. Hugo was the last person to be sorted.

"Weasley, Hugo." It took just a moment for the hat to decide.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

Lily was sure she was cheering the loudest of them all.

That night, after a grand feast and a stern warning from McGonagall on the rules of Hogwarts, the foursome tiredly followed the prefects up and up the stairs, towards their common room. They stopped outside a painting of a large woman in a pink dress.

"This is the Fat Lady," the prefect said. "She guards our common room. You can't get in without the password. The password is _Glumbumble_."

The Fat Lady smiled and swung open, allowing the group of students to climb in. The girls waved goodbye to Hugo, who followed Lorcan and Lysander up the boys' staircase while the girls headed up their own staircase and entered their dorm.

The girls met their other two roommates, two girls named Grace and Natalie who seemed very nice. Too tired to really talk, all five girls climbed into their beds, drew their curtains and promptly fell asleep.

**Author's Notes: Now that we're finally at Hogwarts, there's going to be some real LilyxScorpius interaction. I promise that comes up next chapter and you all will love it. :] Also, I apologize for the slow pace of the story at the moment; I'm trying to get everything set up for the future chapters. But now at Hogwarts, things will definitely speed up. As always, please review!**


	4. The First Week

**NJSparty: YES! I was really hoping somebody would pick up on that. Hahaha. I live in Bucks County, but I go to school on LI so whenever I drive there/home, I always pass the exit for Perth Amboy. It sounded like the perfect HP name. Haha. But don't discredit him. It will be a while, but Perth will show up again as a bigger role :]**

**Merdarkandtwisty: I actually meant to have Harry buy Lily her own owl in Diagon Alley, but I forgot so I had to work something else out. Now I have a better idea that you will love. But you'll have to wait!**

**Author's Note: Here's chapter four! We finally get into the swing of things, and we finally meet Scorpius! Also, I start working full time next. Updates have been rather quick at first, but now that I'm working, things are going to slow down but I'll still try and get a chapter a week. Enjoy the chapter!**

Chapter Four: The First Week

The next morning, Lily, Olivia and Emily were already at breakfast when Hugo, being trailed by Lorcan and Lysander, showed up.

"Good morning, boys." Olivia said brightly.

Hugo just nodded, barely awake, took a seat across from them, and began shoveling food onto his plate. Lorcan and Lysander stood awkwardly behind him.

"Would you guys like to sit with us?" Emily asked sweetly. Lysander nodded and took a seat, followed by Lorcan.

James and Jesse entered the Great Hall and took a seat next to Lily and Hugo.

"Hey, Lils, Hugh," James said, barely looking at them. "Anyway, I can't believe Jackson hasn't put the list up for Quidditch Signups."

"James, it's just the first day," Jesse pointed out.

"I know that, but Slytherin is already having their try outs _tonight_! We can't fall behind them!"

"Wow," Olivia whispered to Lily, "Slytherins really are ambitious!" Lily giggled.

"Look, Em," Lily pointed at Professor Longbottom, who was now walking up and down the Gryffindor table, handing something out to the students. "Your dad's coming."

"He's giving out the schedules." Emily said, barely sparing a glance for her father, now just right next to them.

"Good morning, girls," Professor Longbottom said cheerfully. "Here are your schedules. Olivia, Emily, Lily."

He handed each of them their schedules and continued down to James and Jesse.

"What do we have first?" Hugo asked, as he hadn't gotten his schedule yet; Longbottom was just now going around to the other side of the table.

"Transfiguration with McGonagall," Emily began. Olivia groaned.

"Cool, I can ask her about Quidditch then," Lily said.

"Followed by Charms with Flitwick, then lunch. Then potions in the afternoon with Slughorn."

After breakfast, the six headed to Transfiguration together. Hugo frowned again as Lily took a seat in the middle with Emily and Olivia. Sighing, he sat behind the three girls with Lorcan and Lysander.

By the end of the lesson, Hugo had more to worry about then who sat with whom. His head was swimming with information and a long homework assignment already.

"Hey, Hugh, wait for me outside of the class, okay?" Lily called as she walked up to Professor McGonagall. Hugh nodded with a smile and headed outside. Olivia was leaning against the wall. Down the hall, Hugo could see Emily and the Scamander twins walking to charms.

"You know," Hugo said darkly. "She only asked me to wait."

Olivia stuck her tongue out at him.

Inside the classroom, Lily approached the Headmistress cautiously.

"Yes, Miss Potter?" McGonagall said, without looking up from the paper on her desk.

"I was, ah, just wondering," Lily began. "If it was possible, if I could—"

"Spit it out, Miss Potter."

"Could I try out for Quidditch?" McGonagall looked up from her desk.

"First years aren't allowed to try out."

"I know, but—"

"If you know, then why are you asking?"

"I was just curious. My dad played as a first year."

"Your father was an exception."

"Couldn't I be an exception, too?" McGonagall gave a small smile.

"I'm afraid the answer is no. If I allowed you to try out, all the other first years would want to try out as well. You'll simply just have to wait until next year. Now, go on. You don't want to be late to your next class."

Admitting defeat, Lily left the classroom, dejected.

"Well?" Olivia asked, standing up straight.

"She said no." Lily moped. The three headed off to class.

Lily moped about Quidditch for the rest of the day. Emily told her not to worry, that she would just join the team next year, but Lily still couldn't shake the miserable feeling of being told no. She wasn't used to being told no.

She was distracted slightly from her misery by her Potions class. She had entered with her friends and sat at a table with Olivia and Emily. Lily saw the dark look cross Hugo's face and frowned. What did he think she was doing? Hugo was once again forced to sit with Lorcan and Lysander. The two weren't _that_ bad, just very quiet with wide, protrubent blue eyes that could be kind of creepy.

The professor, Horace Slughorn, was the head of the Slytherin house. James had told Lily that Slughorn was pretty cool. He didn't favor his own house over any other, which was good because Lily shared the class with the Slytherins. James said he tended to pick "favorites", and James was lucky enough to be considered one of them. _Come to think of it_, Lily thought,_ James didn't sound too happy when he said that._

Slughorn was sitting at his desk, eating crystallized pineapple out of a white box. The waist of his pants looked awfully tight. He was mostly bald with just a few wisps of barely blonde hair combed over his head in a very pathetic attempt to cover his head. He was watching the students with a polite interest, waiting until the last student sat down to begin taking role. Occasionally, he would stop at a name to have a discussion with the student.

"Longbottom, Emily? Miss Longbottom?" He looked up eagerly from his desk, glancing around until his eyes rested on Emily.

"Yes, sir?"

"Related to Professor Longbottom, I assume? He did say his daughter was starting Hogwarts soon.

"Yes, sir."

"Oho!" He giggled. "What a pleasure. I had the distinct honor of teaching your father his last two years – not like the last year really counted, anyway. Not the lad for potions, no, but he was _quite_ talented."

Emily smiled politely back at Slughorn, who was now eyeing her like some sort of trophy. The same thing happened with Lily. Before he even called her name, he grinned widely.

"Ah, Miss Lily Potter." He lifted his eyes to her. "I taught your parents, you know. Of course you know your father was quite the wizard, quite talented in potions as well, which I taught to him, of course. He seemed to get his skill from his own mother. Lily Evans, quite a favorite student of mine. You look just like her; perhaps you even have her talent for the art of Potions? " Lily shrugged. He gave a loud laugh and continued on, stopping only once more to talk Doug Shingleton, a Slytherin, whose great-Uncle invented the Self-Stirring Cauldron before reaching Hugo.

"Hugo Weasley?"

"Yes, sir?"

"Your father is Ron Weasley? The Auror?"

"Yes, sir."

"I taught your mother. Quite the witch, top of her year." Hugo shrugged at this. Slughorn nodded and moved on with one critical glance to Hugo.

The three girls began their potions, and while Lily wasn't the best one there, her potion was at least the right color green, unlike Olivia's, whose potion looked like bogies, or Lysander and Hugo, whose potions were brown and red, respectively. Lorcan, however, had the best one: the exact shade of sea foam green and with even the slight swirling mist emitting from it.

"Time's up! Bottle what you have and leave it on my desk. Oh, and if I could please see Miss Potter, Miss Longbottom and Messrs. Shingleton and Scamander at my desk, after class."

Emily and Lily traded skeptic looks as they bottled their product. Olivia, Lysander and Hugo, sweaty from the fumes, left class tired, heading on to dinner. The four children stayed behind, lingering awkwardly by Slughorn's desk. He turned to Lorcan first.

"What's your name?"

"Lorcan Scamander." Lorcan said quietly. His voice was still high, and contained a bit of the dreamy quality often associated with Luna. Slughorn struggled for a moment, attempting to remember something with no luck.

"Did your parents go to Hogwarts?"

"My mum did. Luna Lovegood? She was a Ravenclaw. My dad was homeschooled." Slughorn nodded.

"Your potion is quite good. I hadn't expected anyone to produce such results, not on their first try." Doug scowled at Lorcan.

"Thank you, sir. I've made some potions at home; not real ones, just a few, simple household concoctions."

"Well." Slughorn pulled on the waistband of his pants. "That's quite something! Now, I would like the four of you to join me and some other, shall we say, _chosen_ students for a small dinner party. It will be the day before Halloween, the perfect time for a celebration. What do you say?"

The four children looked at each other and shrugged.

"We would love to come, Professor." Emily said. Slughorn laughed.

"You are precious." He giggled. "Five points to all of your houses for a good show, today. Now, carry on. We don't want to be late to dinner."

All four scurried out of the room. Doug gave a withering look to the others before hurrying up to walk ahead of them and out of sight. Emily sighed.

The three Gryffindors were late to dinner and almost ran to sit with their friends. Lily leaned across Hugo to talk to her brothers.

"James?" James paused, mouth already stuffed with food, fork in mid air, to turn to her.

"Mwaht?" Lily rolled her eyes.

"Lorcan, Emily and I were invited to some party by Professor Slughorn."

"Oh, those things are just a _bore_!" Rose interrupted from down the table where she was sitting with Al. "I got invited to one last year. He's just trying to add you guys to his stupid Slug Club."

"You're just angry because you weren't invited back," James smirked, finally having swallowed. Rose glared.

"Well, I'm sorry I can't waste my time—"

"Waste your time? Please, Rose, you would kill to be invited back to one of those parties." Rose puffed up, opening her mouth to retaliate when Emily interrupted.

"Excuse me, but what exactly is the Slug Club?"

"Slughorn likes to befriend people who he thinks will go places, so when they actually get there, he can take some credit." James answered.

"It's an ego thing. Slughorn is very well connected." Al added in.

Hugo frowned and slumped down in his seat. Olivia, on the other hand, snorted.

"Have fun with _that_!"

Back in the common room after dinner, Lily saw that James had no reason to worry: the sign up sheet had been posted, bringing Lily's mood down again. James entered the common room soon after Lily had sat down and begun her homework.

"All right!" He ran over to the sign up sheets and added his name. Jesse followed him at a slower pace. Lily glowered at James.

"Life's not fair," she said, as Albus entered and signed up as well. "I'm going to write to my parents and head to bed early. Goodnight."

"Goodnight!" Olivia and Emily said cheerfully.

Lily's bad mood was gone by the next day, but came back at the end of the week when she saw the Quidditch team list had been posted.

_Clint Jackson, Chaser_

_James Potter, Chaser_

_Race Ashby, Chaser_

_Rose Weasley, Beater_

_Everett Winchcombe, Beater_

_Albus Potter, Keeper_

_Luke Plymbton, Seeker_

"Who's Luke Plymbton?" Lily asked out loud, angrily.

"I am. Why?" a tall, blonde fourth year boy asked curiously from next to Lily. Lily jumped; she hadn't expected Luke Plymbton to be standing right next to her!

"I, uh, just wanted to, um…" Olivia and Emily were laughing silently behind Lily as she stammered, turning red, making excuses to Luke. "I wanted to congratulate you on making the team. Congratulations!"

"Thanks," he said, nodding, turning to leave. He paused, and turned back. "Do I even know you?"

"Uh, no," Lily admitted sheepishly. Olivia and Emily were doubled over in laughter now. Luke looked at Lily as if she had grown a second head before walking away. Lily turned to her friends, who tried their best to appear as if they weren't laughing.

"Shut up," she muttered. "Come on, we're gonna be late to class."

James hated Scorpius. He had since the moment he had first laid eyes on him. They had met back in their first year. Both James's parents had come to drop him off, along with his Uncle Ron, who had had plans with his dad after the trip. Before he left for the train, his uncle and Dad groaned.

"He has a kid?" his Uncle groaned.

"Ron, you knew that already. The announcement was in the Daily Prophet when he was born," his mum commented, with a quick glance over her shoulder before turning back to James to straighten his collar. "Now, James, behave yourself. Please try and wait at least a week before getting a detention. "

"Yes, mum," he had mumbled, leaning to try and see around her to look at who the adults were discussing.

"He's not a bad person . . . . maybe the kid won't be either," his dad commented. Uncle Ron snorted.

"He'll be a git just like his father. He's the spitting image of Malfoy."

Malfoy. James had heard the name before. His Dad and Uncle told stories of their arch nemesis through school and his part in the war. His dad had made it clear to James that Malfoy had not bee one of the bad guys, just misunderstood.

James still thought he sounded like a git.

His mother turned to fuss over his siblings and finally, James had his chance to follow the men's gaze and it landed on a father and son.

The father had white blond hair, slicked back, his receding hairline giving his face an even more pointed look. His son looked similar, but softer, the blonde hair darker, the pointed chin and long nose more subtle.

They both looked like gits to James. He disliked them immediately.

His parents had bade him farewell, his mother giving him one last hug. He had entered the train and walked down the hallway, looking for an empty compartment. He had just reached his hand for the door when another hand reached for the handle. He looked up to see his competition, and of course, he groaned, it was Malfoy.

"Malfoy." James nodded curtly.

"You must be a Potter," Malfoy responded, eyeing him.

"Yeah, I am." James squared his shoulders and tried to stand even taller. It didn't work. Scorpius was still a few inches taller. "What's it to you?"

Scorpius raised his eyebrows in surprise. "Nothing at all," he said coolly.

The door that the two had both tried to enter suddenly opened, and a tall black boy was standing in the entrance.

"What's going on here?"

James and Scorpius glanced at each other.

"Absolutely nothing," James growled. He turned to enter the compartment, bumping his shoulder hard into Scorpius'. In return, Scorpius rolled his eyes. "You're not welcome here, Malfoy. So go on,_ slither_ away."

"Like I would even want to stay and waste my time with a Potter." The black boy stepped back, and allowed James to enter his compartment as Scorpius stalked off down the corridor, looking confused, clearly having missed some explanation, some reason why they had such animosity.

Truth was, there wasn't one

Sure, you could blame his father and uncle for getting the ball rolling between him and Scorpius, but James figured even without their help, they would have started this rivalry. James and Scorpius coveted the top place in their class. James was slightly ahead (a fact of which he was smugly aware). James was the chaser for Gryffindor and Scorpius was now the chaser for Slytherin. They were opposing houses. All the girls in the castle swooned over them both. It was a natural rivalry.

That was why it was no surprise that James broke his promise with his mother to stay out of trouble for the first week of school. It couldn't be helped.

"Oi! Scorpius!" James called as he entered the Great Hall. He could see the blonde easily, as Scorpius had just started up the stairs.

"What do you want, Potter? I'm busy," Scorpius drawled slowly, turning on the spot to look down on James. Already, James was infuriated. Scorpius was figuratively and literally above him.

" What's this about you making the Quidditch team? Did you have to hoodwink Goyle or something?"

"Clearly I have some talent, unlike some body else who got on the team by his last name."

"I'm just as good as my father."

"That's not saying much, Potter."

"My father has talent. He saved the wizarding word. What does your father have? Money. And … oh, what was it, this certain mark—"

Instantly Scorpius had his wand out, closing the distance between him and James with a few, long strides.

"Shut up," he hissed quietly. "Just you shut up."

Lily had just turned to enter the Great Hall with Olivia and Emily and was forced to stop. A crowd had surrounded the staircase. She pushed and shoved her way to the front, standing on tiptoes to get a good look to see her brother and the blonde boy facing each other, wands out and pointed at each other, each wearing murderous glares.

"Leave him alone!"

James barely spared a glance for his sister. "Lily, go away." Clearly, James had hit a serious nerve with Scorpius. The argument had gone from school rivalry to something much more sinister in one simple dig.

His little sister stood next to him, her arms crossed against her chest. She looked pathetic, so small and her clothes slightly baggy, drowning her small frame. Her red curls were pulled up out of her face, upon which she wore a scowl and a glare that frankly, wouldn't even scare a mouse.

"No," she said. She didn't take her eyes off of her opponent. "Leave him alone."

Scorpius was angry. Angry enough to threaten a first year with intent to hurt. "And what if I don't want to?"

"Then I'll just have to make you!" She pulled her wand out, long and thin, and pointed it at him. Scorpius laughed.

"You will?" He laughed a strangled laugh. "You've barely been here a week. What could you possibly do, Little Potter?"

"_Wingardium Leviosa!" _Lily cried, swishing and flicking her wand. While Scorpius did not levitate into the air, he did get knocked off his feet. It broke the intense tension in the room. James Potter roared with laughter. Lily's eyes widened, almost surprised herself that she managed anything at all.

"Never underestimate a Potter." James put his arm around his little sister, and began to lead her away into the crowd of laughing Gryffindors. Scorpius sat up and brushed his hair out of face. His eyes followed Lily through the Great Hall. She turned to look back at him, her blue eyes wide and piercing as they met his.

"No, I won't ever underestimate her again," he muttered under his breath. His anger with James was not gone but abated for the moment. He now had two large interests in the Potter family. He would get even with James. No one insulted his father. And Lily… Lily intrigued him. From that moment on, he vowed to figure her out.

News of Lily's humiliation of Scorpius travelled fast, even by Hogwarts standards. After the incident, James had walked her to her next class. He couldn't stop laughing almost the whole way, and it wasn't until she protested that he stopped.

"C'mon, Lils, that was great!" he exclaimed, still chuckling. "Uncle Ron would be so proud."

"Why do you hate that boy so much?"

"Who, Scorpius?"

"Yeah. What did he do to you?

"Listen, Lils," He stopped her outside the Charms classroom and turned to face her, putting his hands on her shoulders. "Surely you remember the stories Dad told us about Draco Malfoy? He was a Death Eater. Fought Dad and Uncle Ron all through school."

Lily nodded, vaguely aware of where the conversation was heading. "That was Scorpius's dad?"

"Yeah."

"Dad always said Malfoy switched sides. That his mother saved Dad's life. Besides, just because his dad did something doesn't mean that Scorpius is anything like that."

"He's a Slytherin. Gryffindors do not get along with Slytherins. We are not nice to Slytherins."

"Yeah, but did he _do_ anything to you?"

James shrugged. "He's a Slytherin. You can't be friends with a Slytherin."

Lily shrugged off his hand, "I'll be friends with whomever I want." She turned and entered the classroom, leaving James behind.

"Lily! I didn't mean that literally!" James called after her.

She entered the classroom, taking a seat in the middle, fuming over what her brother said. He always tried to boss her around! Just because he was oldest didn't mean he had control over her. _I could be Malfoy's friend if I wanted to_, she thought angrily. Her anger was slowly mounting and she had worked herself into a decent rage at her brother by the time Olivia and Emily entered.

The two girls spotted their friend and made a beeline towards her.

"Lily!" Emily exclaimed as she took the seat to the right. Olivia took the seat to the left.

"What?"

"How could you do that?" Olivia asked eagerly.

"It's so cool that you stood up to a third year for your brother. How sweet." Emily sighed.

"I should have let James handle it by himself… Maybe Scorpius would have knocked some sense into him," Lily mumbled under her breath, angrily twirling her wand in her hand. Sparks flew out the end of it.

"What happened between the two of them, anyway?" Emily asked.

"I dunno. My brother's a git," Lily said, as Professor Flitwick entered.

"Today, we will be learning a handy new spell that allows you to produce light with your wand…" Flitwick began.

As the class's noise level began to rise as they practiced the spell, the three girls returned to their conversation.

"_Lumos_." Olivia cried. A feeble light emitted from her wand. "Drat. What were you saying, Lily?"

"I don't know what's going on between James and Scorpius. James said that it's because we're Gryffindors and Scorpius is a Slytherin. It's a house thing to do to fight the Slytherins. Automatically, because of his house, Scorpius is a git, and I can't be his friend."

"It's not like you had any intention of being his friend… you tried to fight him!" Olivia said.

The three girls paused their chat as Flitwick passed by their tables.

"_Lumos._" Lily's wand lit up, a brilliant white light.

"Congratulations, Miss Potter. First one to perfect the charm. Five points to Gryffindor," Flitwick squeaked excitedly. "Keep trying, class, keep trying. Once you have managed to light your wand, try putting it out with the counterspell, _Nox_."

"Do you want to be his friend?" Emily asked slyly. Lily felt her ears turn hot and red.

"No," she protested. "But I'm going to be, just to annoy James."

Emily smiled and let the subject drop without pushing it. Olivia snorted.

To Lily's disappointment (not like she would admit she was disappointed), she did not have a chance to speak to Scorpius for the rest of the month. Occasionally, she caught a glimpse of him in the hallways between classes. Once Quidditch training was in full swing, she no longer even saw him at meals. The teams often ate quickly before running out to practice. The first match of the season, Slytherin versus Hufflepuff, was quickly coming up. Once, when Lily brought up during lunch not being able to have a proper conversation with him since the day she cursed him, Olivia snickered.

"Well, he's right there, just go talk to him." Olivia pointed to Scorpius, who indeed had just sat down at the Slytherin table for lunch. He glanced around and had seen Olivia point. He raised an eyebrow at the three first years.

Emily and Olivia dissolved into giggles as Lily's ears turned red. Suddenly the idea of crossing the Great Hall in the middle of lunch and approaching a third year Slytherin seemed so daunting, more so than facing him down in a duel.

Scorpius smiled as Lily's face continued to red. He watched her as she eventually began to giggle, which led her friends to start giggling, which made Lily giggle louder until all three were laughing loudly. Older Gryffindors turned to give strange looks to their first years. But he, Scorpius, couldn't help but smile. Newton Flint, his best friend and dorm mate, tapped him on the shoulder.

"Hello? Score?" Scorpius jumped to attention. "Anyone in there?"

"Yeah, sorry." He mumbled under his breath, sitting down next to him and beginning to eat, but not before he glanced once more at Lily. Newt followed his gaze.

"Lily Potter." He stated. "Are you planning revenge?"

"Revenge?" Scorpius asked, startled. "Of course not. She's a first year. And a girl!"

"Yeah, but she totally kicked your arse." He snorted.

"She did not kick my arse!"

"She beat you bad."

"She got a lucky shot."

"Ickle little first year took down Scorpius."

"She's di—"

"A Gryffindor."

"Her house—"

"Knocked over a Slytherin!"

"This has—"

"Oh, the shame!" Newt cried dramatically, throwing his head back, flinging his arm over his forehead.

"Newt, shut up."

**Author's Notes: We finally get a real scene with Scorpius in it! Hope you enjoyed it. As always, please read and review. Up next: the Quidditch game, Slughorn's party, Halloween and more! **


	5. The Vampire and His Cat

**Merdarkandtwisty:** **Lily is quite like Ginny and Lily (Evans) Potter. And I'm glad you enjoyed her fight with Scorpius.**

**Katastropheee: Thank you very much and welcome to my story. :]**

**Author's Notes: Here's chapter five! Sorry for the wait. It took me a bit to write, and then my beta never got back to me due to a family problem. So please excuse any grammatical mistakes – grammar never was my thing… I tend to be comma happy.**

Chapter Five: The Vampire and his Cat

It was the middle of October and the first Quidditch match of the season. It was a chilly day, a sign for a very cold, long winter ahead. Lily attended the game with her friends; James and Albus were forced to go with the team in order to scope out the other teams strengths and weaknesses. Slytherin was the predicted winner, much to Gryffindor's chagrin.

All the first years sat together in the stands, their red and gold scarves wrapped tightly around their necks. Lily drew her cloak around her closer, rubbing her hands together, cursing herself for not bring gloves.

"Here." A pair of red gloves were handed to her. Lily looked to her left at Lorcan, who wasn't looking at her but staring determinedly at the field, handing her his gloves.

"But what about you?"

"I'll be fine. I've been in colder weather without gloves." He turned and smiled at her. Lily smiled and took his gloves, slipping her hands into the warm, red wool. The twins were very nice. Lily was glad that they were part of their little group.

"Welcome, Hogwarts to the first Quidditch match of the season!" cried a familiar voice. The students cheered loudly. Lily craned her neck to look at the top box.

"Is that Jesse?" Lysander asked. Lily nodded.

"I think so!"

"Dirty rotten snakes versus the old, lazy badgers—Sorry, professor, just making the picture."

"And here is Team Slytherin… Chasers Dean Ackart, Scorpius Malfoy, and Raleigh Jones! Beaters, Jasper Balfour and Toby Goyle! Keeper Paisley Lander and Seeker Callista Haynesworth!"

The sea of green and silver in the crowds roared, as Lily and Emily clapped politely. Older Gryffindors booed, and shot dirty looks at the first years. It was a team of almost all older boys, tall and thick and intimidating. The two girls were just as tall and intimidating. Scorpius was clearly the youngest and shortest.

"And the Hufflepuff team… Chasers Cora Halpen, Carter Hanford and Grayson Avery! Beaters, Nigel Gibbon and Harrison Eaton. Keeper Bonnie O'Dorcy and Seeker Wynda Fairholm."

The stands erupted in cheers, as Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Gryffindor cheered for the team. Compared to the other team, the Hufflepuffs looked small and slightly, as if a stray wind could blow them over.

"Captains, shake hands."

The tallest and thickest boy stepped forward to shake hands with a small and slight girl from Hufflepuff, who smiled weakly at him. It was clear that the Slytherin captain was attempting, and succeeding, in crushing the poor girl's hand.

"And they're off! Quaffle in possession to Ackart, he passes to Malfoy. Malfoy is off, dodges a Bludger from Gibbon – nice try, Gibbon. Next time, try harder. Passes to Jones who passes back to Ackart, who dodges another Bludger – Gibbon, that was too easy for him! – who shoots, c'mon O'Dorcy, you can—"

There was a shout of cheers erupting from the Slytherins as the rest of the stands groaned.

"Slytherin ten, Hufflepuff nothing. "

As Lily watched the game, feeling ever more sorry for the Hufflepuff team, who really was just dreadful, she couldn't help but feel nervous for her brothers. The Slytherin team was really, _really_ good. The Chasers were going so fast and passing the Quaffle between the three of them so quickly, that the Hufflepuff Beaters had almost no chance of ever hitting one of them with the Quaffle in their hand.

"Jones, to Malfoy, who – FINALLY, GIBBON. Malfoy drops the Quaffle into the waiting hands of Halpen who takes off down the field. Man, that girl is fast! What,  
Professor? Halpen shoots, SHE SCORES! Slytherin 70, Hufflepuff 10. Come on, Hufflepuff, you can make a comeback!"

The Slytherins booed at his comment.

Lily watched as Scorpius scowled. Scorpius was really good as well, as good as her brother even. Shaking his head, he threw himself back into the game, playing twice as hard, determination in his eyes.

Emily, who wasn't that interested in Quidditch, sat down. "Is it almost over yet?"

Lily shook her head.

"But it's been over an hour already!"

"Yeah, but the Slytherin team is really good." Lily said as Olivia booed at her comment. "Hufflepuff has good chasers and a good keeper, but their beaters suck. They can't get the Quaffle in their possession."

Emily groaned. Lysander patted her sympathetically on the back. The twins also looked relatively bored; Lorcan had pulled out a book and was reading.

The game continued for almost another hour. When Emily suggested leaving early, Olivia silenced her with a glare. Emily and the twins were now napping in the stands. Only Hugo, Olivia and Lily were paying attention. Even Jesse stopped with his jokes, and was just saying the names of the player. The score was 260 to 110, Slytherin.

"Malfoy passes to Jones, and – LOOK! Has Fairholm seen something?"

Indeed, the Hufflepuff seeker, who had been near her goalpost, shot straight across the field. It was a dumb move, Lily thought. The Slytherin seeker was now alerted to the presence of the snitch, which was much closer to her.

"Haynesworth takes off after Fairholm. The snitch is closer to Haynesworth. And she has the better broom. Can Hufflepuff catch the snitch and make it a tie? Or will Slytherin catch it for a landside win? Come on, Hufflepuff! Fairholm is almost to Haynesworth. It's girl versus girl! That's kinda hot… OW! Professor, _what?!_ Haynesworth dives and –"

The Slytherins cheered, jumping to their feet, drowning out Jesse's words as their Seeker pulled out of the dive, her hand held high above her head. Behind her, the Hufflepuff seeker slowed down, defeated. The Slytherin players all flew to the ground and covered their Seeker, cheering. Hufflepuff landed, patting their Seeker on the back empathetically as the stands began to empty.

"Come on, you three," Olivia pushed Lorcan with her foot. "Wake up!"

"S'not time yet," Lorcan mumbled before turning his head to the other side.

A wicked grin crossed Olivia's face. "Lily, what's that new charm we learned in class?"

An equally wicked smile lit Lily's face. "Aguamenti?"

The two girls looked at each other and nodded before drawing their wands and pointing it at their slumbering friends.

"_Aguamenti!_"

Back in the common room, Hugo, Olivia and Lily were still laughing. The other three, however, were not as amused as they marched up the stairs, shivering, to change into dry clothes. The three remaining Gryffindors snagged the chairs by the lit fireplace. The mood was low tonight; everyone was hoping for a Hufflepuff win.

"You know what this means?" The Gryffindor captain was saying in the corner to his team. "Slytherin won by three hundred bloody points! Another win like that and they have the cup for sure."

James scowled at this. Albus swallowed nervously as the captain turned to him.

"You!" He yelled, pointing at Albus. A pair of fourth years coming down the stairs jumped. "It's down to you. We're going to pound you in practice—we can't let those Chasers score as many goals!"

Albus paled visibly.

"Poor Al," Emily said, watching as the captain continued to yell, turning red in the face.

"Al can handle it," Lily said, waving her off. "He performs better under pressure. Come on, I need your help with McGonagall's essay."

Emily nodded as she pulled out her Transfiguration work but glanced back at Al with one more worried look, before focusing on her homework.

Lily did not see her brothers for the next two weeks. Every spare moment they had was dedicated to Quidditch. Lily, Olivia and Lorcan had attended one of the Gryffindor practices; Lily wasn't quite sure why Lorcan had insisted on coming with, as the boy detested the sport, but he came with and stayed awake this time, perhaps afraid of the consequences if he didn't. The team, Lily was proud to say, was exceptional, although she couldn't help but think she would be a better Seeker than Luke Plymbton. When Luke saw her in the stands, he gave her a strange look before flying in the opposite direction as she blushed down to the roots of her hair. The next match was in a few weeks, and Gryffindor would be playing Ravenclaw, a decent team, as Lily kept hearing from Al.

Lily had hoped she would see her brothers at Slughorn's Halloween dinner, as she knew both were invited, but the two were lucky enough to have Quidditch practice. The morning of October 30, Lily groaned. It was just her, Olivia, Emily and Lorcan attending; none of them had a good enough excuse to miss it, and Emily insisted she had to go because of her dad and Slughorn being colleagues. Olivia had been invited last minute, after Slughorn saw her terrific show in the hallway; an older Slytherin had made fun of Hugo, and Olivia had quickly drew her wand, and sent the poor boy to the hospital wing to have his goat horns removed, which were still growing when he left for the infirmary. Slughorn had reprimanded her, taking away points and giving her a detention, before winking, praising her on the impressive bit of spellwork and inviting her to join Emily and Lily at the party.

"My dad taught it to me before I left for school, just in case," Olivia had smirked.

Slughorn had later requested that all the students come in costume; there would be a costume contestant by the end of the night. Rose, despite her bitterness of not being invited back to the Slug club, helped her young cousin and her friends get ready for the party by performing the more advanced spells; Rose was a very talented witch, always reading ahead. Lily thought Rose probably knew more spellwork than James, despite being a year younger.

Lily had spent all month racking her brain for a good costume, and in the end, decided on a simple cat. She wore her tight black pants and a tight long sleeve shirt with charmed gloves and shoes to resemble paws. With Rose's help, Lily had on a tail and cat ears that actually moved.

Olivia had decided to go as a dragon. Quite the complicated costume, Rose had to enlist the help of Emily's older brother, Frank, a fifth year, to have the large headpiece, balanced cautiously on Olivia's head, open its mouth, roar and breathe fake fire. Rose charmed Olivia's clothing to reflect scales. On Olivia's back were two large wings she had made, and around her waist, was a belt holding on the long tail, which was often getting in the way and tripping the girls as they walked around their room.

Emily went as a princess, wearing a long, flowing pretty purple set of dress robes that shimmered and sparkled with glitter as she moved, as well as her witches hat with matching purple fabric hanging down over her long, blonde hair that she had left down for the occasion.

"A princess?" Olivia had snorted when Emily left the bathroom and reentered the room. "I haven't been a princess for Halloween since I was four."

Emily scowled at her. Lily ushered her three friends out of their dorm as it drew closer to seven o clock. The three girls had skipped dinner to get ready, as there would be food at Slughorn's party. The three girls hurried down the stairs to meet Lorcan in the common room.

Lorcan's costume was Lily's favorite of the group. He had decided to go as an owl and went over the top to decorate himself. He had made himself some sort of headpiece to put around his face, made of real owl feathers he had been collecting all month (no owls were injured in the making of his costume, he assured Lily). He had owl feathers attached to his whole body, on which he wore light brown clothing. The outfit, combined with his wide, protruding blue eyes, gave the exact impression of an owl.

The four friends left their common room at quarter of, and headed down the many stairs to Slughorn's office, the location of the party. As they got closer, the group could feel the pulse of the loud music through the floor. All four glanced at each other nervously outside of Slughorn's door. Lily nodded, and pushed the door open, stepping through first.

The room had to be magically expanded. It was large and majestically decorated. Black and orange streamers hung from the wall; bats (Lily hoped they were charmed, and not real) flew up around the ceiling, which was dark and cloudy; across the back wall was a long table filled with Halloween related food: bowls of pumpkin juice, a cake shaped like a tombstone; the Hogwarts ghosts floated through the already crowded room, giving an eerie effect. Lining the wall adjacent to the food were small tables and chairs, filled with people eating their dinner. In the far corner, a band was set up and playing loud music. There were a lot of people mingling through the room, students and professors as well as many adults Lily did not know.

"Ah, it's my first years!" A loud, cheerful voice called. Slughorn was dressed as some sort of king with a large, red velvet and jewel encrusted crown. He had been talking to a tall, fierce black woman, who Lily recognized immediately, dressed in an long, old green dress, and a matching crown, albeit smaller than Slughorn's. Many of the people in the room were turning to glance at the black woman, some of them blatantly staring. Slughorn paused his conversation with her to reach and grab Lily, who had been the first of the group to walk through the door.

"Hello, Professor," Lily said politely. She looked him up and down. "Er, what exactly are you?"

"I'm King Henry the VIII," he looked down at his costumes before shaking his head. "Never mind. Lily, this is Gwenog Jones, of the Holyhead Harpies? Gwenog, this is one of my favorite new students, Lily Potter."

"Pleased to meet you." The older woman said.

"I've met you before!" Lily exclaimed excitedly. Gwenog looked perplexed. "I was only four, but you played with my mother, Ginny Potter-- well, it was still Weasley when she played. It was your last year as a player, before you became the manager of the team."

"Oh, Merlin, you're _Lily_ Potter! Of course!" The loud woman pulled Lily into a large hug before pushing her backwards, holding her at arm's length to survey her. Two seventh year Slytherins gave Lily a dirty look. "You have gotten so big! How is your mother? Does she still play? And the rest of your family?"

"My family is good. Mum is still writing for the Daily Prophet and Dad is still head of the Auror department." Gwenog nodded. "We all play Quidditch."

"Oh, really?"

"Mhm. My mum taught my brother, James, to play. He's a Chaser, too. He's on the Gryffindor team."

"Do you play?"

"Oh, yes!" She exclaimed, her eyes shining brightly. "I'm a seeker, like my dad. He taught me everything I know."

"Are you on the team?" Lily's face fell.

"Both of my brothers are, but I'm not. First years aren't allowed to try out." Lily pouted and both Slughorn and Gwenog laughed loudly. Gwenog patted Lily on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, dear. I'm sure you'll make the team next year. You come from quite the Quidditch family. " Gwenog turned to Slughorn, and smiled at him. "I'll have to come back some point to see the Potter children in a game."

"You know, dear, you are always welcome here," Slughorn replied, leading Gwenog away from the area.

Clearly dismissed, Lily waved and turned back to survey the party. She couldn't exactly see her friends, but by the food table, she could just see the top of Olivia's dragon behind a group of what looked like Ministry officials. The Ministry officials walked away from the food table, and Lily got a clear view of her friends, looking for her. Laughing, she waved at them. Emily waved back, gesturing for her to come join them.

It was as she was crossing to her friends that she saw him, two tables of food down from Olivia and the group. At first, Lily didn't recognize him, as he had dyed his hair black and it was slicked back. But as he turned, Lily couldn't deny the slim, pale face, pointed nose and startling grey eyes. The black hair made sense now; he had come to the party as a vampire, dressed in a muggle tux under a long red cape, looking incredibly handsome.

Lily's heart sped up;_ he was alone_, something that never seemed to happen. Scorpius glanced around the room and made eye contact with Lily for a split moment. Her eyes filled with determination. As Scorpius continued to scan the room, Lily walked past her friends before she had time to reconsider, her friends looking confused, and walked straight up him, and without any preamble, said,

"Congratulations on the win. You're a very good Chaser."

Scorpius stood still, and surveyed the small girl in the front of him. Lily shifted, uncomfortable under his intense gaze and hastily got a cup of pumpkin juice, just to give herself something to do with her hands. He smirked slightly, apparently making up his mind, and looked away out into the party, taking a small, dignified sip of his pumpkin juice.

"Thanks, Potter." Lily frowned.

"My name is Lily." Scorpius smirked even larger, still not looking at her.

"I can call you kitty cat, if you prefer that." He glanced toward her outfit, quickly, before looking back out into the crowd. Lily blushed.

"Call me by my first name."

"No." Lily opened her mouth to protest but Scorpius spoke first. "Not until you earn it."

With that, he pushed off the table, nodded at Lily and walked off into the crowd. Lily followed him with her eyes until she could no longer see him, feeling like the roles were oddly reversed: just a month ago, she had been the one to walk away. Tonight, he left her behind to be intrigued by him.

"_Lily!_" Someone hissed. Lily jumped, spilling her juice down her, and looked around, spotting Olivia heading towards her.

"Drat!" Lily attempted to sop up the juice.

"Smooth," Olivia said, as she walked up to her, tripping on her dragon tail. "Very smooth. Just as smooth as you were with Scorpius. What was that, anyway?"

"You heard, then?" Lily let Olivia lead her away to the table Emily and Lorcan were sitting at.

"Yes," Olivia pushed Lily down hard into her chair. "Now, explain."

"Nothing happened. I just said congratulations for the win, he said thank you and walked away," Lily said, which was true, but she left out his intense stare, his refusal to call her by her first name (her cheeks flushed at the nickname he offered and she tugged her shirt down), and her new determination to have him call her Lily. She had found Scorpius in the crowd, now speaking to a Ravenclaw in his grade. She watched him as Emily gave her sly looks and Olivia raved on about "fraternizing with the enemy" and the Slytherin Quidditch team. Lorcan frowned at Lily, following her gaze.

By the end of the night, Lily was incredibly tired. She had circled the room with her friends, occasionally with one of them being pulled away by Slughorn to meet another "close friend". Neither Olivia nor Lorcan had won the costume contestant, much to their disappointment; the winner was a fifth year Hufflepuff who came dressed exactly like Slughorn, including the bald head and box of crystallized pineapple. Slughorn had roared with laughter when he saw him.

Late that night, long after the students had left the party, long after everyone else had fallen asleep, Lily lay in bed, a strange feeling in her stomach as she recalled the intensity in Scorpius's grey eyes and the dimple he had on his right cheek as he smirked. She tossed and turned for hours, before finally falling asleep in the early morning.

Halloween fell on a Saturday this year. The third years and above were excited; it was the Hogsmeade visit and they would return to the castle for the magnificent feast. The first years, however, were not as excited, as they were not allowed to visit the magical village. Lily and her friends were just entering the Great Hall for breakfast Halloween morning, grumbling about the age restriction on the Hogsmeade visits, when she passed her brother.

James came running around the corner, a bucket in his hands, closely followed by Jesse. He skirted around Lily, the contents in the bucket sloshing around before splashing out and onto Lily and the floor. Her left hand and edge of the sleeve were now covered in red paint.

"James!"

"Sorry, Lils." He called as he took off up the stairs after Jesse, who had already disappeared around the corner. "Remember, it wasn't me!"

Lily groaned and rolled her eyes, and shooed her friends away. "No, don't worry. I'll go wash my hands and meet you guys in the hall."

They nodded and continued in to the Great Hall. Lily had just stepped on the stairs when she heard a voice.

"Stop right there!" Turning, Lily saw Argus Filch, the old caretaker of Hogwarts, and burst out laughing.

That had been a mistake.

Standing in the mouth of the hallway James had just come running from, covered in red paint from head to toe, his jowls quivering with anger, was Argus Filch. He had one hand extended towards Lily.

"Come here, girlie," Lily groaned and walked back towards him. "You think this is funny? You think hanging a bucket of paint above my broom closets door is _funny_?"

Lily thought so, but kept her mouth closed.

"Detention! Next Saturday!"

"What? No! I didn't do it." Lily yelled angrily.

"Oh yeah? I caught you red handed!" He reached down and grabbed Lily's left wrist, which indeed was red. "And you left footprints!"

Groaning, she realized she must have inadvertently stepped into the paint James had spilled.

"It wasn't me, it was –" Lily stopped. She wouldn't tattle on her brother. With a sigh, Lily silently swore she would get James back for this. "Fine. Next Saturday.

Filch smiled wickedly. "Eight o'clock. My office. You'll be cleaning the Trophy room." He stalked off.

Lily stomped angrily, splattering paint everywhere, and yelled, "Dammit James!" before stalking off to the bathroom to clean up.

"That's rough, about detention," Hugo said, later that day as the group of friends lounged about on the grass under a tree. It was an unusually warm day for October.

"Yeah, stupid James," Lily muttered, tearing the grass out of the lawn, scanning the front yard. There were other students, too young to go to Hogsmeade, or old enough to be bored with the village, lounging about as well.

All six first years were laying around the tree. Hugo and Olivia were playing a card game, arguing over the rules and who was cheating.

"You're cheating!" Olivia exclaimed for the third time already.

"I am not!" Hugo replied indignantly.

"Are too!"

"Am not! That's completely allowed!"

"Not uh, no way. You go by suits, then number, not number than suits." Olivia sat up, pointing roughly at the cards.

Emily sighed and turned to Lily, shaking her head; Hugo and Olivia were always fighting. She continued to knit her scarf. Lily was sitting next to her, a pair of needles in her hand. Emily had promised to teach Lily once Lily found out Emily could knit. Emily's scarf, a long red and gold scarf for her brother, Frank, for Christmas, was magnificent. Lily's green scarf, on the other hand, was lopsided and continued to curve despite Lily's best efforts to keep it straight.

"Emily, what am I doing wrong?" Lily whined. Emily clucked her tongue, reaching over to adjust Lily's hands.

Lorcan looked up and caught Lily's eye and smiled. The twins had both brought out books and were reading. Lysander put his book down and sighed as the argument between Hugo and Olivia escalated, crossing over to the two, and sitting down, surveying the cards.

"Hugo's allowed to play that card," Lysander said quietly. Hugo cheered and Olivia glared at him. "However, Olivia, you can't play _that _card."

"What are you reading?" Lily asked, curiously leaning over Lorcan's shoulder, her long hair falling on to him. Lorcan swallowed.

"_1984_ b-by George Orwell," he replied.

"Oh, I love that book!"

Lily put down her pathetic scarf, and stretched out next Lorcan, placing her head on his shoulder to read along with him, forgetting her anger at James, her detention and even about the intense grey eyes that had haunted her dreams, and enjoyed a warm Halloween with her friends.

**Author's Notes: There we go! Hope you enjoyed. As always, please read and review.**


	6. Detention and Dinner

**Author's Notes: Here's chapter six. Sorry for the wait, things have been a bit hectic; I'm working nine-hour shifts every day and my house is currently under construction. Enjoy!**

**PLEASE READ: I'm currently partaking in a Harry Potter challenge, given by Pride-of-Slytherin2. It's 180 given titles. Mine is a series of one shots with various characters and genres. It's called Story of a Lifetime. Please check it out! There will be some Lily/Scorpius in it!**

Chapter Six: Dinner and Detention

Lily spent the remainder of her Halloween outside under the tree with her friends, only venturing inside once the sun set. At one point, the students returning from Hogsmeade had passed, including James, who had waved happily at Lily. Lily, in turn, had ignored him, tightening her grip on her side of Lorcan's book. Happy, hungry and slightly sunburned, the six first years hurried inside for the feast.

The feast itself was magnificent. Hagrid had outdone himself; pumpkins the size of small cars floated above each table, terrifying faces carved into them and candles shining brightly out. Bats flapped around the enchanted ceiling. Even the ghosts had gotten together and performed a riveting show, entering the Great Hall screaming and howling together, terrorizing the students before taking a prompt bow and sitting to enjoy the feast. Lily sat with her friends, making sure that both Rose and Al sat between her and James. Her caution was for nothing; James sat at the other end of the table with other third years, too cool to be seen with his little siblings. Lily thoroughly enjoyed the feast, refusing to let her anger at James interfere with the event.

After the Halloween Feast, she had rushed back to the common room to beat James there. Her friends followed, Emily shaking her head disapprovingly, Hugo, Olivia and Lysander snickering, and Lorcan looking a bit scared. They had been the first students there. Lily had stood just inside the portrait entrance, arms crossed, stance wide, with a foul look upon her face. She startled quite a few students as they slowly began to trickle in. Albus walked in and, upon seeing Lily, swallowed nervously, stepping backwards into Rose.

"Did I… did I do something wrong?" he asked quietly.

"No," Emily sighed, shaking her head, as Lily refused to move a muscle.

"Wrong brother," Olivia snickered. Albus stared at her before guffawing loudly.

"I'd hate to be James right now," Albus said. Rose nodded, giggling, and the two cousins sat down on the couch to wait. Lily was now attracting the attention of not only her friends and family, but also the other Gryffindors. There was a collective, quiet hush as the portrait opened once more and a familiar voice drifted in.

"The Slytherins won't know what's coming. Ha! I can't wait to see Malfoy's face tomorrow morning." James stopped suddenly at the sight of his little sister.

"What's up, Lils?"

Lily glared. James glanced around at all the Gryffindors watching.

"C'mon, Lily. Speak."

"JAMES SIRIUS POTTER, HOW THE HELL COULD YOU BE SO IRRESPONSIBLE?!"

James winced. "What are you, my mother? Who cares what I do to the Slytherins?"

"I don't even know or care what you did to them. I care about what you did to Filch!"

"Filch?" James and Jesse glanced at each other and snickered, as did a few older students. "Isn't he a little old for you?"

That had been the wrong thing to say as Lily's faced turn red, not from embarrassment but anger, as she puffed up even more.

"YOU ARE A BLOODY PRAT!" she screamed. Albus and Rose were doubled over in silent laughter. Lorcan winced as Lily continued to yell, waving her left hand in front of James face wildly. "DO YOU SEE THIS? DO YOU?!"

"Uh… your hand?"

"No! This!" Lily shook her sleeve at him, which still had traces of red paint on it. "You spilled red paint on me! Now I have detention for your stupid, not even funny prank!"

"Hey, that prank was hilarious," James said solemnly.

"UGH!" Lily screamed, pulling at her hair. "You completely missed the point!"

"Lily, it's just detention," James said coolly as he flopped down on a nearby couch. "Lighten up."

"Just detention?" Lily mumbled as she stomped away from James and towards her friends. "I'll show you."

One week later, Lily was still mumbling and grumbling as she headed down to Filch's office, conspiring on the appropriate way to get revenge on James. Stopping outside of Filch's office, she knocked and was greeted by Filch in his nightgown. Lily shuddered inwardly; it was a sight she hoped she would never see again.

"Follow me," Filch growled, leaving his room after putting on a puce dressing gown. He led Lily up the stairs and around the corner to the trophy room. He stopped at a broom closet to collect a bucket and rag and forced the items into Lily's hands.

"You are to clean this whole room without magic!" Filch snickered loudly, as if this was a terrible punishment. "And believe me, I'll know if you used magic. I'll be back for you later."

Lily sighed as Filch slammed the door to the Trophy room, leaving her alone. She turned to the first case of trophies, dropping to her knees in front of it. She wrung the rag out after dunking it in the bucket of filthy water and began to scrub at the awards.

It was a tedious job. Despite growing up in a magical household, her family usually cleaned the muggle way. They didn't own any house elves. Only her mother always used spells. Her father said hard work was good for you, and that it gave you time to think. _Try cleaning the trophy room, Dad_, Lily thought dryly.

She had moved on to the second case to clean a large number of flat plaques before jumping at the sight of her father's name. Leaning closer to the shelves, she read off the plaque:

_Harry Potter,_

_Service to the School_

_1992_

After quickly doing the math, Lily was startled to realize that her father was only twelve when he received the award. She cleaned off her father's plaque carefully as she racked her brain, trying to think of what he had done. There had been the Battle of Hogwarts, of course, but Lily knew that was in 1997, as it was exactly a year before her cousin Victoire's birthday. Her father had also saved some sort of rock, something that gave you immortal life. Lily continued to scrub the plaque, despite it being clean, her brow furrowed. Perhaps it was the stone thingy? But there was also the time her father had saved her mother (and, incidentally, the whole school) from a giant snake mucking about in the plumbing. Her Uncle had been involved in that; a quick glance around revealed her Uncle's award from the same year on the shelf beneath it.

Lily loved hearing the story about the snake. She just found the entire story incredibly romantic—and Lily wasn't normally that type of girl. Still, Lily didn't think anyone could disagree with her; saving your best friends little sister and future wife from mortal peril was very romantic and just like a fairy tale come true. Lily smiled as she thought of her parents. They could sometimes be gross with how they still kissed each other (Lily's nose wrinkled in remembrance) but she guessed they could be kind of cute.

Giving up and resolving to ask her father, Lily moved on to clean the next award, an old tarnished shield for someone named Tom Riddle, which had been shoved into the corner. Lily allowed her imagination to run wild as she fantasized about fighting large snakes, and a certain blonde haired boy saving _her_. Her stomach growled, interrupting the daydream she knew she shouldn't have. She had left dinner early to make it to detention. With a pout on her face, she continued to clean the room without magic, her mind returning to her fantasies, despite how hard she tried to think about something else.

It wasn't until quarter of midnight that Filch came to retrieve her and Lily was proud to say that each and every shield shined as bright as it could. Filch scowled as he saw this, leaving him with no scathing remark. Instead, he barked at her to put away the bucket and hurry back to her dorm before she got another detention.

She gladly hurried away from the crotchety old man, but as she started up the stairs, her stomach gave one loud, long grumble. With a sigh, she turned around, glanced down the hall to make sure Filch was gone, and hurried towards the kitchen, wishing she had the Marauder's Map or even the Invisibility cloak, both of which were in James's possession.

James had never let Lily use the map or cloak before. He said it was a boys' thing only. Furious, Lily had snuck into his room one night when she was ten while James was at Rose's house. She was unable to get the map to work but did manage to steal the invisibility cloak, letting her go on a late night fly around the village, one of her favorite things to do.

During her first week of school, however, James had deemed Lily worthy of the two items after her fight with Malfoy. She had woken one night to find a broom handle poking her relentlessly in the face. Groggily, she had gotten out of bed, grabbed the broom furiously, and headed down to the common room. There, James had thrown the invisibility cloak at her (scaring her to death) and showed her how the map worked, taking her on a late night tour of the castle, including all of the secret rooms and hidden passageways.

It was for this reason that Lily knew to cut through the tapestry that concealed a small set of rickety old wooden stairs that brought her down closer to the kitchen. Peering around the corner, she ran towards the large painting. She reached a hand up and tickled the delighted pear, which at once turned into a door handle.

After swinging the door shut after herself, she realized immediately that she was not alone. The elves were still awake, despite the late hour, bustling about to serve the one lone patron it had. He was sitting at the farthest table that Lily knew coordinated with the tables in the hall above. _Typical_, Lily thought.

Scorpius looked up from his place at the Slytherin table with a smirk. Lily was standing silently at the door, still dressed in her school uniform, the red and gold tie slightly loosened, the sweater over her blouse unbuttoned. While he himself was no longer in uniform, he was fully dressed in jeans and a nice button down shirt; Malfoys were never seen in a less than perfect state. After a few excruciating minutes of Lily standing there as Scorpius appraised her, her hand on the door as if debating whether or not she should leave, Scorpius sighed.

"Well, come sit down, or are you going to stand there and stare?"

Instantly, Lily shut her mouth and glared. "There's no need to speak to me like that, Malfoy."

"Like what, Potter?" Scorpius drawled in a slow, cool manner that Lily had already begun to associate with him.

"Like – like, I'm a bloody idiot!" Lily declared, flustered.

"Oh, and you're not?" He raised one delicate blonde eyebrow. Suddenly, Lily had the urge to burn that eyebrow off. Her hand twitched towards her wand, wishing she knew the magic to do so.

"No, I'm not," she said heatedly. Scorpius stood up from the table, drawing his wand as he did so.

"Then prove it." Lily drew her wand as well, heart thumping loudly. It seemed like the animosity between James and Scorpius had been transferred between him and Lily, as the tension between the two crackled. For a moment the two just stared at each other, Scorpius smirking, Lily's face set in hard determination. Finally, Scorpius lowered his wand.

"Sit down, already, Potter. I'm not going to fight you." Lily lowered her wand, cautiously, looking up at him. "Seriously, sit."

Following his orders, she sat down across from him at the Slytherin table, oddly feeling like she was betraying everyone by just sitting here. Almost immediately, no less then three house elves swarmed on her.

"What can Pouchy get for Miss?" The old house elf bowed deep, his long thin nose almost reaching the ground.

"Oh, er –" Lily was startled, unsure of how to handle the elf. "Sheppard's pie, please?"

"Certainly, Miss." The house elves ran back towards the edge of the kitchen, already preparing Lily's meal.

"Wow," Lily breathed softly. "Great service."

Scorpius smiled, amused. "Don't you have house elves at your house?"

"No," Lily replied. "My Aunt won't allow them."

Scorpius raised his eyebrow once more, before returning to his eggs, his eyes still on her, focusing on each detail. Her hair was nothing like her cousin Hugo, whose red hair was so bright and almost vivid-orange that it was like staring into the blaring sun. Her red was much darker, the soft curls escaping from the ponytail. She and James had the same, thin long nose, but across hers were spots of freckles, something neither of her brothers had. Lily caught him staring, and he hastily looked away. Lily looked away from his face and down at his plate and almost immediately wrinkled her nose.

"_What_ are you eating?"

"It's eggs," he replied defensively, frowning. "You know, those things that chickens lay?"

"I know what they are," She said scathingly. "But what have you got them covered in?"

"Ketchup. Haven't you ever had eggs with ketchup?" Lily stared.

"No!" She said it as if eggs with ketchup was the strangest thing she had ever heard of. Scorpius opened his mouth to retort when Pouchy returned, placing a plate of steaming Sheppard's pie in front of Lily.

"Made just for Miss!" he squeaked, bowing once again.

"Er, thanks," she said awkwardly. The elf's eyes widened slightly but he merely backed away with one glance over his shoulder to the couple. Lily picked up her fork and stared at her plate thoughtfully. She snuck a glance to Malfoy's plate, a glance Scorpius caught as he was watching her.

"What, did they cook it wrong?" And all of a sudden, Lily thrust out her arm, taking a stab at Malfoy's ketchup eggs and hurriedly shoveled the food into her mouth.

"Hey!" Lily smiled, her cheeks puffed up from the food. "Potter, what the hell do you think you're doing?

"Eating your eggs. They're actually really good. Got a problem?" She mumbled cheekily, still chewing her eggs. Scorpius opened his mouth but Lily swallowed quickly and said, "Don't care."

Scorpius was forced to shut his mouth. He stared silently for a moment at Lily, who had a large grin on her face as if she had just won some large prize, before he grinned back. He picked up his fork and reached out for her food.

"Well, it's only fair." His voice was normal paced, no longer slow and cold, Lily noticed. The slow drawl had disappeared from his voice. He was not as fast as Lily had been but Lily didn't bother protecting her food. Lily eyed his plate once more, but Scorpius glared, pulling his plate closer to himself protectively.

"What do you think?" she asked as he chewed. He made a face.

"It's… too heavy," he decided with a shrug, returning to his almost finished eggs. Lily laughed loudly.

"What are you, a girl?" He scowled at her but Lily only gave him another large smile. The two continued to eat their food in a comfortable silence. Scorpius was racking his brain for something to say, anything to just keep the conversation going.

"Why are you down here so late?" he finally asked. Lily shrugged.

"I had detention,"

"Detention?"

"Yes, _detention_. Don't sound so surprised." Scorpius was surprised even though knew he shouldn't be; she had blatantly challenged him to a duel now twice. He was learning a lot about Lily already. "I was framed for James's prank."

Scorpius snorted. "Well, James always was an idiot."

"Shove off, Malfoy." Lily glowered. Scorpius frowned. Before, Lily had taken his mockeries lightheartedly. It seemed he had actually insulted her now. He considered apologizing but in the end decided against. He never apologized. An awkward silence fell; the only sounds being made were their forks scraping against their places. Scorpius finished first. He stood, stretching, as the house elves ran to him, reaching for his plate.

"No, thank you, it's fine. I got it," Scorpius told the nearest elf. They stared at him with wide eyes, as if the concept was completely new. "Well, as much as I would love to stay and chat, I'm afraid I have to get back to my room," he said. The drawl was back. Lily frowned.

"You didn't say why you were down here."

"You didn't ask." He floated his plate from the table and into the sinks against the wall. Turning and walking out, he said, "Goodnight, Potter."

Lily watched him go before turning back to her cold Sheppard's pie, pushing it around the plate thoughtfully. Taking one last bite, she stood up, and the same house elves came to her. Taking Scorpius' lead, she told them not to worry, and floated her plate to the sink as well. Suddenly, a wickedly brilliant idea occurred to her. She grinned widely and took off into the deserted corridors.

-----

It was almost a week later by the time Lily managed to track down Albus alone. It was Thursday night, and many Gryffindors were grouped around the tables, books in laps, studying. Al was sitting in the far corner alone, a book open in his lap. Lily had just entered the common room after sending Quaffles off with a letter to her parents. Her friends waved, but Lily held up one finger, and walked over to her brother instead.

"I need your help," she said without any preamble, shoving her brother's feet off the chair opposite him. Al continued to read. "Where's James? And Rosie?"

"They're in the library," he replied, turning the page. Lily momentarily forgot why she had come over.

"The library? James?"

"Yes, after the prank on the Slytherins,"—the night after Lily's late night dinner with one particular Slytherin, they had all entered the Great Hall to raucous laughter: all of the Slytherins had vibrant pink hair—"Rose insisted that James cool it for a while. He needed her help with that prank, and she exchanged her help for one week of studying and no pranks."

"Oh," Lily said. "That explains why he's been so quiet." She paused for a moment. "It's strange that they're so close."

"Mhm," Al murmured in response. James and Rose were as close as two people could get despite their differences in personality. James often called Rose "a wet blanket", as she was the one who tended to reign James in when his pranks were too out there. In response, James appealed to Rose's fun and reckless side, something that had been growing for years now because of him. "What did you need my help with?"

"How do I get into Hogsmeade?"

Al sat up and closed his book, now regarding his sister with interest. "And why would you need to get into Hogsmeade?"

"Revenge," she answered simply, a steely glint in her blue eyes. Al sighed, shaking his head.

"I don't want to know. You have to go through the passage behind the one-eyed witch in the third floor corridor," Lily nodded, committing this to memory. "The password is '_Dissendium_'."

"Thanks, Al!" Lily exclaimed brightly, leaning forward to kiss his cheek before rushing off to join her friends. "You're the best!"

"You owe me!" he called after her, a hint of laughter on his face as he shook his head and returned to his book.

"What was that about?" Lysander asked as Lily sat down between him and Lorcan. All of her friends were listening. Lily smirked at him.

"You'll see." The glint in her eye winked mischievously. Lorcan stared at her.

"You know, Lily," he began, shifting nervously. "Sometimes, you scare me."

**Author's Note: There you go. What is it Lily's planning? You'll find out next chapter. Please review! The more reviews I have, the quicker my update!**


	7. Hogsmeade

**Author's Notes: Here's Chapter 7. Thank you all so much for all the reviews. It made me smile. :] I know it's been a while since I updated, but I've been writing the whole time. I wrote about another 10,000 words or so? Most of it is for Lily's fifth year, but the next chapter is written so I'll post it as soon as I get… hmm let's say ten reviews on this chapter?**

**Bellibella: I'm sure some wizard must have tried eggs with ketchup as well. At least, that's what I'm gonna say! Haha. Sometimes my muggleness just slips in.**

**BlueBubble101: Thank you so so much! I hope you do stay with this fic until the end. Hopefully, by then, I'll have you loving Lily/Scorpius! Haha.**

**Sandra Starck: Thank you! Yes, James is two years old then Lily, and Al is only one. I tweaked the ages a teensy bit. Funny thing is, if you go back and look at everyone's birthdays, you'll find out some of them couldn't have been born then. =P Oops. Math never was my strong suit.**

**PassionatelyFeline: Thank you! First year is going to be one of the longer years in this story. Lots of things need to be set up. But don't worry, second year is going to go by really, really quickly!**

**Also thanks to merdarkandtwisty (she's reviewed every chapter, thank you!),** **HPgurll94, angelsea, gingerbelle, xoCAITox and mangotano101!**

Chapter 7: Hogsmeade

As November became December, the castle became much colder. Students took to wearing their gloves and scarves in the hallway. Some of the older students even carried around conjured fire. Lily was like every other student; between classes, she wore her own pathetically knitted curved green scarf and Lorcan's red gloves—he had said he had another pair, and she could keep the red wool ones.

Lily continued along with her classes and her friends. Her best classes were clearly Charms and Defense Against the Dark Arts, followed closely by Potions and Astronomy. Unfortunately, she wasn't doing that well in History of Magic and Transfiguration. Fortunately, she had Lorcan and Emily. Along with Lily, they were the studious ones of their group. Lorcan was just as talented in Transfiguration as he was in Potions, and, somehow, Emily managed to stay awake through Professor Binns' droning when no one else could. When asked about it, she simply shrugged and replied, "I find history interesting."

Lily's main interest did not lay in schoolwork, however; she had spent her November waiting for the next Hogsmeade trip. She hadn't exactly told her friends what she was planning; she knew Emily would surely disapprove and Hugo would want to come with. Yet, somehow, they seemed to know she was planning something to do with Hogsmeade and Lily wasn't quite sure how. Only Al knew, and he was the one who could keep secrets, unlike Lily.

The Hogsmeade trip wasn't until the second weekend in December, giving the students one last visit to buy Christmas presents before the students left the following week, but Lily planned on buying her friends' presents at home; her mother had promised her a shopping trip for just the girls.

Lily's interest was held by something other than her revenge for one day: the Quidditch match. The weekend before Hogsmeade, Gryffindor was scheduled to face Ravenclaw in their first matches of the season. The match was heavily prepared for; because of Slytherin's heavy win over Hufflepuff, both Gryffindor and Ravenclaw would be trying to capture as many points as possible before winning the game.

The week leading up to the match was filled with the malice usually saved for Slytherin games. Ravenclaw students catcalled and jeered at the Gryffindor players who retaliated with curses. James, who was on his second year of Quidditch and who lived for attention and fights, was in his element. He strutted through the hallways, girls giggling as he passed, cursing random Ravenclaws as he went. Rose, who had only made the team this year, was terrified. She wasn't used to the name-calling or the curses. One nasty hex caused her skin to be covered in painful, pulsating green boils; upon seeing her reflection, Rose made sure the Ravenclaw, a skinny sixth year not even on the team, severely regretted her curse. Both Rose and the girl had to go to the hospital wing. Rose was released almost immediately while the Ravenclaw girl refused to leave the hospital wing until all her hair grew back. Rose had entered the common room that night pale but smirking. Upon seeing Hugo sitting with the twins and Lily, she made a beeline for them.

"I don't think I can do this," Rose said immediately without any preamble, pushing her brother out of the chair and sitting down. "I'm absolutely dreadful."

"Rosie, come on," Lily said without even looking up from homework; she was used to Rose's freak outs before any big test or game. "You know you're great. Stop it already. Lorcan, what's the third property of asphodel?"

Rose smiled at Lily before glowering and whacking Hugo upside the head.

"What did you do that for?" He roared, rubbing the back of his head.

"Stupid prat, you're supposed to be my brother! Aren't you supposed to be telling me these things?"

"Fine," he grumbled. "You're great and have no need to worry. Happy now?"

"Happy? How can I be happy when I'm going to lose the game for everyone! You're not even playing my opposite better and Winchcombe is a dungbat." She glared at Hugo as she stood up. "You better get on the team next year, Hugo, or I'm gonna kill you!" With one last withering look and another whack upside Hugo's head for good measure, Rose flounced off to the girls dorm, leaving Hugo behind her to stare.

"What did I do wrong?" he asked, shaking his head. Lysander shrugged.

"S'not your fault you've got a crazy sister."

----

The six first years headed down to the stadium again; the twins and Emily were forced to come with.

"You have to come support your own house!" Olivia had cried, pestering them until they gave in. Currently, the three sullen Gryffindors were stomping their feet as they followed Hugo, Olivia and Lily into the stands and to their seats. Lily sat on the edge of the seat as Jesse began his introduction of the teams.

"Welcome to the match! Today we have Ravenclaw versus the most wonderful team ever, the Gyffindors," –the Slytherins and Ravenclaws booed loudly – "Introducing the Gryffindor team: we have James Potter, best friend of yours truly, Race Ashby, man is she—" There was a slight scuffling noise that blocked out whatever Race Ashby was as Professor McGonagall pulled the megaphone out of Jesse's hands and whacked him over the head with it. The audience roared with laughter as McGonagall unwillingly gave the megaphone back to him.

"--and Clint Jackson as Chasers!" Jesse continued as if nothing had happened. James waved at the people in the stands, looking calm as could be. Beside him was a small, pretty raven-haired girl and the big, bulky captain who had very little neck. "Next we have the Beaters, Everett Winchcombe and Rose Weasely! Wait, that's a girl's name. Can girls even play Beater?" Everett Winchcombe was a short, fat sixth year that looked like the broom wouldn't be able to support him. Rose was standing next to him, taller than him already despite the four-year age difference, and half his size. She glowered up at the box as Jesse commented on her gender.

"I bet Rosie just loved that!" Hugo said to Lily, snorting, as she responded with a giggle. Uncle George had made the mistake of once telling Rose she couldn't play Beater, that it was a boys' position. He swore his back was still bruised from the Bludger she whacked at him.

"And finally, Luke Plimpton as Seeker and Albus Potter as Keeper!"

Lily stood up screaming with the rest of the Gryffindors. Al alone looked perfectly calm, almost bored.

"Captains, shake hands," The wiry Ravenclaw looked pitiful next to the thick Gryffindor. "And they're off!"

The game quickly became dirty. Ten minutes in, the Ravenclaw beater charged at Rose, who had been pulverizing the Ravenclaw chasers, effectively stopping them from scoring, just as she was taking a swipe at the Bludger. He pulled his own bat back and swung hard, completely missing the Bludger and smashing into Rose's wrist. He was charged with a foul, despite his insistence that it was an "accident". James took the penalty shot and scored, bringing the score 100-40, but the Beater still achieved what he hoped for: Rose had to switch the bat into her left hand, hindering her performance.

James and Race were also targeted. Both were very thin and incredibly fast on their Firebolts. The Ravenclaw beaters had decided to double team Race, perhaps hoping that as a very petite girl, she would easily give up. They were very, very wrong. Despite being pounded over and over again by Bludgers, she held on to the Quaffle. She lay low on the broom, holding on tightly. James, on the other hand, was constantly fouling the Ravenclaw chasers, as they continuously suddenly placed themselves in front of James, forcing contact.

Albus was doing his part, though, and for the most part, did not let any goals in. He was performing some incredibly spectacular saves, including one where he nearly dove off his broom to reach the Quaffle, dangling at the tip of the broom by his feet.

Within forty-five minutes of playing, the score was 250-50, in Gryffindor's favor. Lily had never been so proud of her brothers in her life. She was extremely proud of the whole team, with the exception of one player: Luke Plymbton.

As she watched him play, she couldn't help but get annoyed with his performance.

"Come on!" She groaned, smacking her hand to her forehead. "The snitch just flew by him and he didn't even notice! Not like he'd be able to catch it, anyway; his flying skills are terrible."

"Yes, Lily, we know," Lysander said, turning the page of his book. "You've said that like six times now,"

She said it again as Luke took off after the snitch again. His patchy flying job was what surely cost him the snitch. If he had just taken the turn a little sharper and a little faster, the Ravenclaw seeker wouldn't have been able to pass him. But no one else but Lily seemed to be that annoyed with the Seeker, as even with the extra one hundred and fifty points, Gryffindor still won, 250-200, putting them in second place for the Cup behind the Slytherins.

"Just give it up already, Lils!" Olivia said as she stood cheering for the team. All the Gryffindors slowly emptied the stands. The first years were one of the last to leave. Albus came running up to them, still in his Quidditch robes, sweaty and dirty but a huge grin on his usually passive face.

"Guys, there's going to be a huge party in the common room tonight. James and Jesse are going to get the butterbeers now." He panted, bent in half, trying to catch his breath.

"Sweet!" Olivia and Hugo cried, pumping their fists, while Emily tried to look disapproving.

Al waved as he headed back towards the changing room while the six first years hurried back to the common room, excitedly discussing the upcoming party.

----

The party soon turned out not to be as fun as the first years expected. The room was crowded as they entered, everyone already mingling and chatting; someone had turned on a wireless radio and a group of sixth year girls were dancing and shaking their hips in the center of the room, giggling as the boys grinned and watched.

Once James and Jesse had entered to the roar of the crowd, holding bottles of butterbeer and sweets in their hands, the party really got started.

"How did you manage to get Firewhiskey?" Frank Longbottom asked, snatching the bottle out of Jesse's hands. "You guys are well underage."

"Aw, come on, Frankie," The boys frowned. "It's just a bit of fun!"

"I don't think so," he said coolly, as he vanished the bottle. He turned to the group of first years to his right. "And what are you guys doing here? First years, off to bed!"

"No, that's not fair!" Hugo cried. Olivia nodded vigorously.

"Bed!" He pointed to the stairs.

"Fine," Lily said coolly, standing up. "We'll have our own party. Come on, guys,"

And with that, she stood up, her spine rigid straight and marched into the first year boys dorm, the rest of her year following.

Once she entered, she realized that the two other boys in their year were still in the room.

"Oh. Do you guys mind if we hang out in here? Frank won't let us in the party," she said sullenly to Ben Harper, who was lying on his back in his bed, a magazine held above him. He sat up, the magazine dropping to the floor. Noel Byrne shook his head from his bed.

"No, not at all."

"Thanks."

They all piled in. Olivia and Hugo scuffled over who got to sit in Hugo's bed, with Olivia ultimately winning.

"It's my bed," Hugh grumbled.

"It's my seat," Olivia stuck her tongue out at him. Ben stood up and bowed to Emily, giving her his bed to sit, and sat down at the foot of the bed. Natalie and Grace, the two other girls from Lily's dorm, joined Noel on his bed. Lysander immediately went to his bed and Lily joined Lorcan on his.

"So," Ben said as the first years all glanced at each other. "What are we doing?"

"Having our own party, apparently," Grace scoffed.

"Let's play a game then," Lily said, flipping her hair over her shoulder, narrowing her eyes at Grace.

"Truth or Dare?" Olivia suggested.

"How about spin the bottle?" Grace said. Natalie nodded. Olivia wrinkled her nose.

"Ew, _no_. Let's get in a circle," She replied, scrambling to the floor as the rest of the first years joined her, giggling nervously. "Okay, I'll go first. Hugo, truth or dare."

"Er, truth," he said nervously, glancing around.

"Coward," Olivia mumbled under her breath. "Fine. What's the most embarrassing thing that's ever happened to you?"

Immediately, Hugo turned bright red. "Well, two years ago, we went on vacation to Italy—" Lily immediately burst out laughing, covering her mouth with her hand.

"Sorry, sorry. Go on," She giggled. Hugo glared at her.

"_Anyway_. My mum's big and important at the Ministry, and we were having dinner with the Italian Minister of Magic at this big fancy restaurant, and I didn't feel good at all. So I excused myself but as I pulled out my chair, I hit the waiter right in the er, his um, private parts, and he dropped his tray right on my head."

Everyone laughed but Lily shushed them. "Wait, it gets better."

Hugh glared at her. "Thanks, Lily. Well, the tray cracks once it hits me in the head and already I'm feeling sick, and it just hurt so bad that I got sick… right into the lap of the minister!"

They all roared with laughter as Hugo grinned sheepishly, his ears bright red. "My turn? Grace, truth or dare."

"Truth."

"What's the biggest lie you've ever told?"

"How lame. I told my mom the cat broke her wand, not me, when I was five." She said coolly. Natalie and Ben laughed. Grace turned to face Emily was a hard look. "Emily, truth or dare,"

"Truth," She replied, returning the look back at Grace with just as much vengeance. It was strange, seeing the hard look on Emily's usually kind face.

"Aw, come on! You guys are so boring," Natalie pouted. Ben and Noel nodded.

'Fine," Em said coolly, "Dare,"

"I dare you to jinx your brother," Grace said immediately. Olivia opened her mouth to protest but Emily beat her to it.

"Is a body binding jinx fine?"

Grace nodded eagerly and Emily wasted no time in standing up, pulling out her wand, and sneaking out the door. Eagerly, the first rest of the first years followed. Olivia and Lily exchanged worried looks as they brought up the rear.

Emily tiptoed down the stairs and leaned over the banister, peeking out to find her brother. Frank had a drink in his hand and was speaking to Race, leaning in close to whisper something in her ear. She giggled in response and glanced around as Frank placed his hand on her waist. Hugo nudged Lily and pointed in the corner where James was scowling in Frank's direction, nursing a drink, before turning his attention back to a giggling third year blonde.

"_Petrificus Totalus_," Emily whispered over the banisters. The first years all giggled and shrieked, pushing one another trying to get back up the stairs but not before seeing Frank turn stock still and fall forward, crashing into Race and spilling his drink down her as she screamed. The other Gryffindors looked around confused. Someone issued the countercurse and Frank was repeatedly apologizing to Race, who face had gone from giggling to stone cold. James looked oddly smug in his corner.

---

Hogsmeade weekend was the first snow of the season. As the first years all hurried to bundle themselves up and run out into the snow for a snowball fight that was sure to go down in Hogwarts history as epic, Lily was curled up on the couch, reading a book.

"Are you sure you don't want to come with us, Lily?" Hugo asked, frowning, his vivid hair sticking out from under his knitted hat.

"No," Lily said, coughing. "I told you, if I don't feel good already, I don't want to risk getting seriously sick by playing in the snow. Stop pouting, Hugh, there's gonna be another time."

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay here with you? I don't really fancy the cold and wet," Lorcan asked, fretting about her. Lily shook her head vigorously, probably too vigorously for a sick person.

"I'm just going to go up to bed," Lily stood, stretching, and gathered up her blanket. "Have fun guys,"

"Bye,"

"See ya later,"

"Feel better,"

"Don't get caught," Lily spun around to see Emily give her a disapproving look and Olivia wink as they disappeared out of the room.

Laughing, Lily ran up to her room, dropping off her blanket and tore off back down the stairs. The students had already left for the trip, and Lily had wanted to get in and out of Hogsmeade before anyone noticed her. She ran up the boys' stairs, and stopped at what she knew to be the third year dorm. Pushing the door open, she ran straight to her brother's trunk, which was thrown up and had half his stuff spilling out of it. With a quick search, she found the invisibility cloak and the map. She threw the cloak over herself, and pulled out the map, touching her wand to it as she whispered,

"_I solemnly swear I am up to no good_,"

The lines appeared showing Lily that Filch was in his office and McGonagall was in hers. She would have a clear path to the secret passageway. She silently crept out of James' room and out of the common room.

Hogwarts seemed empty. Surely all the first and second years were engaged in the snow war outside, which Lily saw out the window on the fourth floor. She paused long enough to see Hugo, easily recognized by his vivid hair, have a huge mound of snow that someone had been levitating over him drop onto him, burying him clear up to the armpits. Laughing, Lily continued, only coming across Filch's cat once before reaching the statue of the witch.

"_Dissendium_," she whispered, tapping the statue. It slid open, and she climbed in.

She walked through the long passageway with the invisibility cloak on. She knew it would lead to Honeydukes and frankly, she was too nervous to take the cloak off anyway. She walked for over an hour, her feet sore, her stomach grumbling as she had skipped breakfast as she faked being sick. She almost considered turning around when she saw the steps. Eagerly, she ran up them two at a time, paying the price for her eagerness when she ran straight into the ceiling.

_Ow_.

Rubbing her smarting head, Lily pushed open the trap door slowly, peeking out. The stock room was dark. Pulling herself free, she let the door drop back into the floor where it blended right in. Worried she wouldn't be able to find it when she needed to leave, she carved a miniscule X into the corner of the door with her wand. Racing up the stairs silently, she slipped into the crowded shop.

Her jaw dropped. She knew Honeydukes was supposed to be fantastic, but she never imagined anything like this. Shelves went all the way around the room and up to the ceiling, stuffed with candy and sweets. She wasted ten minutes just walking around the room, avoiding touching anyone, examining the sweets. She wanted so badly to buy some long lasting Fizzing Whizbees, but she had no way to pay. Frowning, she left the shop and headed out into the town.

The town was gorgeous covered in snow, exactly like a Christmas card. Lily hummed merrily as she crunched through the snow, heading towards Madame Puddifoot's. She knew James had a date today with a fourth year, Chessie Metuchen.

Entering the small shop, Lily was overwhelmed with the smell of perfume and coffee. Wrinkling her nose, she searched the couples seated around tiny poufs and tables, noticing that Race, while looking rather bored, was sitting with Frank, who was still apologizing profusely. James was in the corner, scowling and stirring his tea aggressively as he stared at Frank and Race. Chessie glanced around awkwardly. She was a pretty girl, with a round face and thick, dark curls that fell about it.

"So. . ." Lily heard her say, trying to get James's attention. He spared a glance for her, an ugly look on his face as he hurriedly gulped down some tea. Lily had a hard time not laughing as she pulled out her wand.

As soon as James' cup brushed the table, she whispered "_Wingardium Leviosa_,"

With a quick flick of her wand, the cup went crashing sideways, spilling its tea out and onto Chessie's lap, an idea she had gotten from Frank's incident last night.

"Oh, my god," she cried shrilly, standing up and grabbing napkins. James sat up straight, paying attention now, looking horrified.

"Chess, I'm so sorry, I don't know how it happened. I'm not usually a klutz, that's more like my sister." All of a sudden, James snapped to attention, looking about slowly through the room, a quizzical look on his face. Twice he searched the room before he shook his head. Gulping and feeling slightly guilty, Lily turned her attention to Frank. Performing a tricky hair-growing jinx she read about in the library, she watched, silently laughing as Frank's ear and nose hair slowly begin to grow.

"Uh, Frank?" Race said, her eyebrows disappearing so far up her forehead that her bangs covered them completely.

"Yes?"

"Never mind," she said, smiling sweetly, propping her elbow on the table and leaning her head on her hand. Frank reached up and scratched at his neck where his ear hair was now tickling.

"What the…?" His fingers tangled in the hair and pulled. He shrieked shrilly like a girl, before jumping, muttering a hasty excuse and running to the bathroom. Race kept a straight face until he was gone before smirking. She stood up and sauntered over to James, who was still cleaning up the mess of tea.

"You know, James, that wasn't very nice of you," she leaned over and whispered in his ear, which automatically turned bright red.

"It was an accident. I'm cleaning it up!" He replied hastily, adding more napkins to the mess. Race, puzzled, looked down at Chessie covered in tea, raised her eyebrows at James, and turned around and left without another word. Chessie stood up as well.

"Thanks for the tea," she said coldly, before following Race out of the tinkling door. James slumped in his seat. Frank flopped himself down in the opposite chair Chess had just been occupying, his ear and nose hair now gone.

"Bad date?" He asked, his cheeks faintly red.

James just glared.

----

Lily practically skipped the whole way back to Honeydukes, giggling. Her revenge was successful. She had gotten in, ruined James' date, and was on her way out without even being noticed. She reached her invisible hand out for the door into the candy shop when it suddenly flew open, whacking right into her and knocking her to the ground, the cloak flapping around her ankles. Hastily, she yanked it back down and glanced up to see that had knocked her over. It was Scorpius and the friend he was always with. The door had ricocheted right back into them and the two stared quizzically behind the door. Lily froze. The invisibility cloak had pulled up far enough when she fell to display her trainers to the world, but she had thought she covered herself quick enough,

"What do you think is wrong with the door?" His friend said, examining the door. Scorpius, however, was staring at the snow where Lily sat. She was almost sure he could see her sitting there, soaking wet in the freezing snow, despite knowing that she was still invisible, at the moment.

"No idea," he replied dryly. "C'mon, Newt, let's grab a butterbeer,"

The two walked off, an odd smirk on Scorpius' face. Lily let out the breath she had been holding. Sneaking into the store, she hurried down the stairs and into the secret passageway, erasing the x in the trapdoor with her wand. Her escape hadn't gone exactly as planned, but still, she would arrive back to the castle unharmed and, most importantly, not caught.

Slipping out of the witch's back, she hurriedly stuffed the Invisibility cloak into her pocket with the map and dropped to the corridor floor. There was a loud screech and Lily jumped back, her shoulder slamming into the statue hard. She had jumped to the floor and landed on Filch's calico cat. Horrorstruck, she set of towards her dormitory, shivering and dripping for the wet snow. She had taken just a few steps when someone called after her.

"Stop right there, missy!" Argus Filch, the ancient caretaker of Hogwarts, was hobbling along as fast as he could. His cat was purring at the statue. He ran up and glanced at the statue and then to Lily. "What are you doing here?"

"Walking. Is that banned now?" She asked coolly, crossing her arms over her chest. Filch looked at the statue again.

"In this corridor?"

"Clearly," she replied dryly. He scowled nastily at her.

"Oh, if only it was allowed, you could use a good whipping. You got a nasty streak in you, I can tell. Get back to your common room!"

Dismissed, Lily scampered away, glancing back to see Filch examining the statue closely.

James was back in the common room and he seemed to be in a foul mood; he was complaining loudly to Rose about how someone, Lily didn't catch the name, jinxed him as he met up with Chessie to apologize so that leeks grew out of his ear. Snorting back her laughter, Lily told her friends what exactly her revenge was. Olivia and Hugo roared with laughter. She apologized to Emily for jinxing her brother but she merely waved her off.

"He can be a git sometimes, don't worry about it," she said, without even looking up from her book. "You're just lucky you didn't get caught. Filch was right to guess that the statue was a secret passage."

---

On Tuesday, Lily was late for Charms and she _hated_ being late, especially for her favorite class. She was late for the worst reason, too. Professor McGonagall had held her back to discuss her skills, or lack thereof, in Transfiguration. Lily didn't get the point. She had a high A but Professor McGonagall expected an E from her. Lily glowered as she rushed around the corner and ran, not even noticing the figure leaning against the wall.

"_Meow_," Lily froze and turned around. She had run right past Scorpius without even noticing. He was smirking, his arms crossed against his buttoned shirt and perfectly straight tie. Lily stared at it; how did he get it so straight and even? It didn't even have a single crease. "Afternoon, Potter. Running a little late?"

"Yes," she said breathlessly. "McGonagall held me back."

Scorpius raised his eyebrow. "In trouble, again?"

"No. McGonagall just refuses to accept my acceptable grade!" She fumed.

"That's McGonagall. Last year, she-- how did you put it? – _refused to accept_ it when I accidently turned my partner into a teacup instead of my turtle." Lily giggled and Scorpius' smile widened. "Honest, it was just an accident. That woman is so touchy."

The door next to Scorpius opened and the tall, gangly boy from Hogsmeade exited. He had long, elegant black hair tied back in a short ponytail, slanted green eyes and a wide nose. "Score, Slughorn's ready for you," He stopped short when he saw Lily. "Aha! And who is this?"

"I'm Lily Potter," Lily smiled shyly at him. He bowed deeply, grabbing her hand and kissing it.

"What a pleasure it is to meet a lovely lady!" Scorpius rolled his eyes as Lily giggled and blushed. "I am Sir Newton Flint of Brighton and Hove." He winked and leaned down closer to Lily. "But you can call me Newt."

"Nice to meet you, Newt. But I've really got to go. I'm really late for Charms now." She turned around and headed down the corridor, waving back at them both. "Bye, Newt. Malfoy,"

And she disappeared around the corner.

**Author's Note: Ten pages for the long time it took me to update. And remember, the next update is in your hands! Ten reviews and then it's up. :] Thanks!**


	8. Christmas at Godric's Hollow

**Author's Notes: I wanted to let you all know that I split all the my oneshots up so they are individual stories now instead of one story. I also put up a new one, very sad, about James, Lily and Harry that I hope you all go read. Also, I think I am giving up on my Beta. I never meant to post the chapter this late but she has yet to get back to me so… please excuse any minor grammar mistakes. If you notice any big mistake, please let me know. **

**Merdarkandtwisty: It's not that Rose inherited her father's skill on a broom. It's more like she has Hermione's stubbornness. When she was young and the boys said she couldn't play Quidditch cause she was a girl, well, she had to prove them wrong, didn't she?**

**Gome949: Lily felt guilty for ruining the entire date; she only meant to embarrass James, not for the girl to completely walk out on him. She assumed that James' being there with all his disinterest in the girl in front of him meant he was there to spy on Frank and Race, and she was already getting the feeling that James liked her. So to make James feel a bit better, she tried to ruin Race and Frank's date, knowing that one more incident would turn Race OFF from Frank and perhaps on to James?**

**PassionatelyFeline: Thank you. But… GASP. You think Hugo is quiet and well behaved? Oh, no! I'm clearly not doing a very good job at including him; he's very much like his father in personality. That's the problem with these next generation fics. There are so many characters, it's hard to have Lily interact and develop a genuine relationship with all of them, not even including the characters I created! I seemed to have dropped Hugo in order to develop Lily's relationship with Emily and Olivia… hm… perhaps I need to add some cousin bonding time.**

**Also thanks to ISNAS, angelsea, and juliagoolia!**

**Chapter 8: Christmas at Godric's Hollow**

The final few days before Christmas went by in a hazy red and green blur. Some teaches, such as McGonagall and Robards, had them working until the very last minute. Others let the students have a bit more fun. The first years spent one very enjoyable lesson trying to make the toy soldiers Flitwick provided march and dance. No one had been able to, as Flitwick predicted, but they all still had fun, especially since they got to keep their toy soldier.

Lily was about to enter the Great Hall for dinner, nearly late because she had been discussing her latest Defense Against the Dark Arts paper with Professor Robards when Lorcan left the Great Hall. The two literally bumped into each other, swaying on the spot. Lily almost fell but was caught by the small hand that wrapped around her wrist. She grinned at Lorcan.

"Thanks,"

"No problem," Lorcan replied, a faint blush rising in his cheeks.

"Where are you going?" She asked, although Lily had a feeling she already knew the answer.

"Library." He responded as Lily thought. He shrugged. "I wasn't very hungry."

"You're so peaky," Lily teased, grabbing at his small waist. Lorcan laughed breathlessly with her, his eyes suddenly shining. Lily drew her hands back slowly, oddly feeling as if something had suddenly changed between them. Two glanced around, slightly uncomfortable, Lily's eyes looking up the same time Lorcan's did.

There, above them, was a small twig of mistletoe, glittering harmlessly in the light. Lily flushed deep red and glanced at Lorcan. He glanced back at her, questioningly, and Lily replied with a squeak and began staring determinedly at her shoes.

"Lily?" He said softly. "You know what this means."

Lily looked up slowly, nodding. Wondering whether she wanted her first kiss to be with the shy, awkward friend in front of her or the cool, suave-- well, she wouldn't call them friends—Slytherin, but Lily had no time to decide. Lorcan had leaned forward slowly.

Lily leaned forward as well, closing her eyes as their lips met.

It was an innocent kiss, as all kisses at that age were, but even so, as Lily and Lorcan drew apart quickly, she couldn't help but flush as she realized she had her first kiss, the first of all her friends to do so—well, except Lorcan. He smiled shyly at her before hurrying off towards the library without another word. Lily followed his example and took off into the Great Hall so quickly that she stumbled over her robes.

Ignoring the snickers from the Ravenclaws as she stood and dust herself off, she practically ran to the Gryffindor table, threw herself down between Olivia and Emily and with a huff, let her head flop down onto to the table with a resolute _thunk__._

"Hello, sunshine!" Olivia said brightly. Lily glowered at her.

Meanwhile, Scorpius sat stock still, staring into the entrance of the Great Hall. Apparently, Lily hadn't realized that everyone in the hall could see her snog her little _boyfriend._ He frowned, looking about. Only a few other people seemed to have notice the kiss, and had already moved on. Well, _fine_. Mumbling angrily to himself, he began to stab at his food with such a vengeance that Newt frowned.

"What's that pork chop ever done to you?" He whispered dramatically as their fellow sixth years around them laughed. Daisy Parkinson gave a particularly high shrill that sent a shudders through Scorpius' spine. Silencing them all with a glare, he refused to look back over his shoulder but continued to moodily eat his food.

"What's wrong?" Emily was asking. Always the concerned one, she forced Lily to sit up, made her a plate with far too much hearty food, and sat it down in front of her. "Eat before it gets cold. Tell us, what's wrong?"

Hugo and Lysander, sitting across from the three girls, were listening in. Lily just shook her head and said, "I just tripped in front of the whole Ravenclaw table and went sprawling to the floor."

As predicted, Olivia and Hugo laughed loudly while Emily tutted and Lysander reached across the table and patted her on the hand.

"It's really no big deal," Lysander said, returning to his own plate of food. "You probably just got tripped by a Jinglespur Wraxley. They're all over the place,"

Olivia, who still was not used to Lysander's strange imagination, asked the question they were all wondering, "What's a Junglespur Wraxley?"

"_Jingle_spur Wraxley. It's a long, thin animal, almost like a snake, only it has two legs, one on each end of it. It's brown and they like to live in crowded places, often causing people to trip over their body as they tend to blend into wood flooring. They love to live in Hogwarts. I tripped over one on the way to Charms the other day,"

"Lysander, your trainer was untied, you tripped over the lace," Olivia pointed out but Lysander seemed not to hear her and continued to eat his salad.

Lily nodded absentmindedly as she stared at Emily, giving her _the look_, meaning that they needed to talk later—without the boys.

Lily had tried to make the girls leave before the boys in hopes of talking to them on the walk back but Olivia insisted on waiting. The five walked back together and every time they rounded the corner, Lily practically jumped.

"Lily, what is wrong with you?" Olivia asked as they climbed through the portrait.

"N-nothing," she replied, immediately heading to their usual chairs by the fireplace but upon seeing Lorcan already sitting there, turned sharply in the other direction and crashed into Lysander.

"Where are you going? Lorcan's got our seats," He gestured towards his brother. As the twins met eyes, Lorcan shook his head vigorously. "Oh, um—"

"That's fine!" Lily squeaked in a high-pitched voice, grabbing a hold of Olivia and Emily's robes. "We'll just sit over here! Bye!"

And with that, she dragged the two girls to the completely opposite side of the common and squished into the corner.

"Lily Potter, what is going on?" Olivia exclaimed. "Explain."

"Okay," Lily sat on the edge of her seat and glanced over at the boys. Hugo and Lysander were seated around Lorcan, who also seemed to be sitting nervously in his chair. "It's Lorcan,"

"What about him?"

"We kind of sort maybe could have kissed," The words tumbled out of Lily's mouth, and she hoped that perhaps her friends wouldn't understand but already Olivia and Emily's mouth dropped open and their eyes widened.

"What?!"

"You're joking,"

"_Lorcan?!_"

Stealing a quick glance at the boys, Lysander's mouth was completely open, and his blue eyes were wider than usual. Hugo's face was a mix between astonishment, admiration and disgust. It would have been amusing if Lily didn't know they were discussing her.

"There was mistletoe," Lily said quietly, staring at her feet. "I didn't know what to do! One second we were just standing there talking, like normal, and next he kissed me!"

"Wow," Emily breathed. "How romantic. What was it like?"

Olivia snorted and answered before Lily could, "Awkward. It's _Lorcan_."

"Lorcan is very nice!" Lily said shrilly and much louder than intended. The boys glanced at them. She blushed, lowering her voice, "And you're supposed to be his friend."

"What? I was just being honest!"

"Well, it wasn't very nice," Emily poked Olivia who mumbled something that sounded like an apology. "That's quite alright. Now, Lily, do you like him?"

Emily stared at Lily, a knowing look in her kind, brown eyes.

"No, I don't think so," She replied. "I mean, I'm only eleven!"

"So?" And again, Emily had this look on her face and Lily couldn't help but think of Scorpius and what Emily thought was going on there. Lily wasn't even sure of that herself.

"No, definitely not. I'm not interested in boys yet," Lily sat up straighter, crossing her arms "And Scorpius and I are just friends!"

"Wait, I'm confused. Who said anything about Scorpius?" Olivia asked, glancing between Lily and Emily who were still engaged in their staring match.

"I didn't mention him," Emily's eyes twinkled mischievously.

"Em, you are pure evil," Lily responded.

---

Lily thought she was lucky for the kiss happening the last day before break but that was before the train ride home. The boys and girls hadn't run into each other at breakfast nor had they been in the same carriage on the way to Hogsmeade station. However, once they began to board the train, Olivia followed the boys, who had exited the carriage in front of them.

"_Olivia!"_ Lily hissed, grabbing her robes and jerking her head towards Hugo, Lorcan and Lysander. Olivia rolled her eyes while Emily grabbed Lily's arm and began to drag her towards where the three boys were sitting.

"Lily, you two are going to have to face each other at some point. We're all friends. You can't avoid him forever. You kissed, you'll just have to get over it," She said, marching the sullen Lily down the corridor of the train. Olivia opened the door to the compartment while Emily shoved Lily in.

"Hi," She squeaked out. Emily poked her in the back and Lily stumbled in, taking a cautious seat next to Hugo.

Hugo waved, Lysander merely nodded and Lorcan made a face that was a cross between a smile and a grimace. As Olivia and Emily settled in, Olivia already picking a fight with Hugo over something, Lily pulled out her Charms textbook to read ahead. She glanced up before settling in to read and noticed Lorcan doing the exact same thing. The two smiled slightly, blushing, before hastily shoving their noses into their large books. The two remained silent as the rest of their friends kept the conversation flowing. There was an awkward tension in the car, but it was so small that Lily thought she could ignore it easily for the ride and began to relax until Hugo decided to open his mouth.

"Lils, you've been awfully quiet this whole ride," He said through a mouthful of chocolate frog. Lily jumped, having been completely engrossed in the Summoning Charm.

"Oh. Yeah, I guess I have been," she mumbled, staring at her book in hopes of Hugo getting the hint.

"Why?"

"I'm reading, dingbat," She pointed to her book. "And I'd like to get back to reading, if you don't mind."

"Is it because you and Lorcan kissed?" All of a sudden that miniscule tension that had existed increased a tenfold, exploding into the compartment and laying in the air heavily. Emily was glaring at Hugo, Olivia was shaking her head. Lysander was looking back and forth between Lorcan and Lily so quickly that he was sure to get a crick in his neck. Lorcan was blushing so furiously that he matched Lily's hair. Lily's mouth was opening and closing as she tried to say something but nothing came out. Finally, her cheeks turning red, she jumped out from her seat.

"Bathroom," she mumbled and practically ran out of her seat and into the corridor, slamming the door behind her.

Stupid, _stupid_ Hugo! Fuming and cursing him, she had no choice now but to wander the train as she absolutely refused to go back to her compartment until the very last second. Aimlessly, she headed towards the bathroom. As she approached the door, it opened and a friendly figure appeared.

"Ah! Miss Lily! What a pleasure," Newt jumped upon seeing her, bowing grandly. Lily couldn't help but smiling despite wanting to continue moping.

"'Lo, Newt."

"Bathroom?" He stepped out of her way, holding the door open for her but Lily shook her head. "Oh. Just here to admire the view, then?"

"No," Lily shook her head again. "I _was_ sitting with my friends, but my cousin is an idiot and –" Newt put his hand up, silencing her.

"Say no more," He said, putting an arm around her shoulder and leading her farther down the corridor. "We all have a stupid cousin. Mine personally is Wanda." He shuddered. "Granted, she's only ten, but man, she is nasty,"

Lily giggled against her will, her mood already lifting. It was hard to stay upset around Newt; his upbeat quirkiness was contagious. He stopped in front of a door to a compartment and Lily had a split second to realize where he had taken her before he slid open the door.

"Tada! You can sit with us instead!"

_Us_ was a compartment of third year Slytherins, including none other than Scorpius. Lily groaned. All three of them looked up at Newt's dramatic entrance, wearing identical skeptical, haughty looks as they glanced at Lily. Newt seemed to not notice this as he pushed Lily inside the compartment and into the seat next to Scorpius as he sat across from her.

"Guys, this is Lily. She's gonna be sitting with us for a bit,"

"Why?" asked the girl with a pug nose wrinkled in disgust on the other side of Scorpius. Newt leaned forward and put his hand up as if to whisper behind it.

"She's got a stupid cousin," he whispered dramatically. The girl rolled her eyes and mumbled, "Obviously,"

Lily sat up straight, her hand diving into her pockets for her wand. Scorpius seemed to realize what she was going to do as he grabbed her wrist while he shot the girl a glare.

"Daisy," he said warningly. The girl blinked back at him innocently, a look of absolutely adoration on her face. Lily wanted to puke.

"Lily," Newt began, ignoring the exchange that had just happened, "This is Daisy Parkinson," He pointed to the girl with the pug nose, who scowled back at her, "Jace Zabini," Newt gestured to the tall, handsome, stoic boy wearing the haughtiest expression, who regarded Lily with the tiniest of nods. "And Lael Luikin," The final girl, Lily noticed, was astoundingly beautiful already, despite her young. She reminded Lily of her cousin Victoire, with the silvery blonde hair (although Lael's was cut into a bob) and the small, perfect features. Lael made no acknowledgement of Lily's presence and continued to sit there, painting her nails a pastel pink color that made Lily want to puke almost as much as Daisy Parkinson did.

Lily nodded at them and sat in her seat, feeling out of place and wondering why someone as nice as Newt would want to spend his time with people who were clear believers of blood purity. With a start, she wondered whether Newt, despite his kindness, was also a pure blood fanatic, but she had no way of finding out in current company. The tension in this compartment was almost as bad as the one Lily just left and she was debating which one was the worst one to be in.

"So," Scorpius drawled, looking about the compartment. "What were you saying, Jace?"

"Something not worthy of _her _ ears, surely," He raised his eyebrows at Scorpius as if he was shocked to see a Malfoy letting Lily sit there next to him.

"Worthy?" Lily repeated.

"Yes, worthy, you little half-blood," he replied scathingly.

"Blood status is of no importance!"

"To you, maybe," Daisy scoffed. "But it never matters to the lower dregs of society. You care more about Muggles than your own kind,"

"My own kind?" Lily replied, standing up from her seat, her wand held tightly in her left hand. "We're all humans, dingbat." She let her eyes roll over Daisy. "Well, except maybe you, you bare closer resemblance to a troll. . ."

Daisy glared as she stood up, drawing her wand.

"Say that again, Mudblood,"

"I'll have you know I'm a pureblood, three generations back on both side!"

"All of them blood traitors and Muggle lovers, the lot," Jace added.

"As for the lower dregs of society," she stepped closed to Daisy, who eyed Lily suspiciously. "You can only dream of the money my family has, the grandeur and the fame. You wish,"

With that, Lily turned, her hair flouncing over her shoulder, and left.

"Spoiled little brat," Daisy spat as she sat back down. Scorpius stared at her. "What?"

He shook his head, stood up, and left the compartment.

"Oh, you are _not_ chasing after her! Scorpius!" Daisy called after him. When he didn't come back, she looked around the compartment for support. Jace shook his head, Lael remained impassive as she painted her nails, and Newt was staring in the opposite direction, trying to stifle his sniggers.

Scorpius spotted the fiery red head in the next cart of the train.

"Potter! Hey, Potter!" She whirled around so fast that it caught Scorpius off-guard.

"What, Malfoy? Come to tell me more about how useless and disgusting I am, what a terrible name I give to wizards and witches everywhere? Because I really don't want to hear it," She drew her wand. "I dare you, go ahead, say one more thing about my blood or my family and I will curse you so badly, you'll have to crawl back to your Slytherins,"

"I actually came to tell you that Daisy is an idiot and that you shouldn't believer her words to be the views of everyone in that compartment," he said coolly. "But if you don't want to hear it, I'll go."

He turned to leave but a small hand reached out and grabbed his arm.

"No, no, you don't have to go," she said in a small voice, putting her wand in her pocket. "I'm sorry,"

"It's quite alright," He replied stiffly. The two stood awkwardly in the empty corridor.

"So you don't believe all that stuff?" Lily asked. "The blood purity and Muggle lovers?"

"I believe in what you said," He replied. "We're all humans, living on the same earth. There's enough bad in the world, why do we need to add to it with the hatred of Muggles and Muggleborns?"

Lily beamed at him; he shifted uncomfortably under her smile. "What were you doing with Newt anyway? Surely you realized the kind of company we keep may not exactly be the kind of company for you,"

"We ran into each other at the bathroom. I was fighting with my cousin so he invited me to sit with you guys," She said. Scorpius nodded thoughtfully.

"Are you guys still fighting?"

"Who?"

"You and your cousin,"

"Oh. Yeah, I guess,"

"So you wouldn't want to go back and sit with him?"

"Not really, but it doesn't look like I have a choice,"

"Come sit with me," he asked.

"Uh, did you hit your head or something?" Lily stared at him, incredulous. "Do you not remember what just happened when I tried to sit with you?"

"No, don't with them. Come sit with me," He smiled at her. "We'll find our own compartment. Newt can join us, he'll be pissed at me if I left him behind in there, anyway,"

The two shared a tentative smile but the moment was broken by heavy footsteps. The two jumped and turned to the approaching person.

"Get away from her, you stupid git!" James roared as he came running down the corridor. Rose was behind him. Both of them had their wands drawn and pointed at Scorpius.

"No, you don't understand," Lily pleaded. Scorpius drew his wand as well. Noticing this, Lily turned to him. "Scorpius, don't."

"Leave us alone, Potter." Scorpius said to James. James narrowed his eyes as he came to a stop a few feet away from Scorpius. Rose was on his immediate right.

"Lily, come on," He said, not taking his eyes of Malfoy. Rose held out her hand to Lily.

"No, I don't want to," She crossed her arms. "Drop your wand, James."

"Yeah, Potter, drop your wand," Scorpius mocked.

"Lily," Rose pleaded. "Please, let's just get out of here."

"I said no!"

"Lily,"

"James, I don't—"

"LILY, LET'S GO!" He roared. Rose stepped forward and grabbed Lily's hand. This seemed to be the moment Scorpius was waiting for as he flicked his wand and shouted,  
"_Tarantallegra!"_

Rose shrieked and jumped back, the red jet of lighting hitting the floor harmlessly. James roared in angered, and sent a red jet of light back at him. Scorpius dodged as well. He had just pulled back his wand to retaliate when Lily jumped in between them.

"STOP, STOP!" She yelled. "Stop this right now!" She grabbed James' hand and began pulling him away. "We're leaving, just calm down,"

James made a rude hand gesture at Scorpius before yanking his hand out of Lily's grasp and stalked away. Lily followed suddenly. Rose stood where she was, cautiously, glaring at Scorpius. He raised his hands in defeat, pocketed his wand, before turning and leaving.

"James—" Lily began.

"Shut up, Lily," James muttered. "For once, just shut up,"

"Don't be mean, James," Rose scolded, placing an arm around Lily's shoulder. She shrugged it off angrily.

"I forbid you to talk to him, Lily," James mattered angrily.

"You're not my father, you can't forbid me to do anything!" She replied, puffed up with anger.

"Oh yeah? Wait until I talk to Dad about this!"

"Fine," Lily said coolly. "Daddy won't care, he's always talking about being open minded,"

"He'll care when it's his only daughter, his _little girl_, talking to his enemy's _older_ son!" Lily crossed her arms defiantly but a small corner of her brain was nagging her; if James put it like that, Harry would probably take his side.

The three stopped outside Lily's compartment. Rose smiled sympathetically and hugged Lily.

"Don't worry, James' calm down," She whispered into Lily's ear.

Lily nodded, glared at James, and entered her compartment.

"Lily, where have you been?"

Sighing and pinching the bridge of her nose, Lily sat down. The boys were gone; it was just Olivia, Emily and Lily sitting there. Both of them were staring at Lily were curious expressions.

"Where are the boys?" She asked wearily, ignoring their questions.

"After you left, Olivia kind of, er, reamed Hugo out quite a bit," Emily said as Olivia grinned. "He left to go sit with Rose. I think Lorcan and Lysander went to sit with Al."

"They're friends?"

"Al and Lorcan are both nerds, they probably bonded in the library over the newest edition of _Hogwarts, A History_," Olivia snickered and Lily and Emily couldn't help but giggle.

"So where have you been?"

Lily sighed as she settled in to tell the sorry tale.

---

Neither Hugo nor Lysander or Lorcan came back to the compartment for the rest of the train ride. Olivia and Emily chattered happily as Lily picked back up her Charms book; she was sure there was a good charm in here to use on James if he ever tried something like what just happened again…

The three girls exited the train together and searched for their parents. They found Emily and Lily's parents together with Weasleys

"You're coming to visit during break, right?" Lily asked Emily, pulling her closer.

"Of course," she replied.

"Hey girls," Neville said, pulling all three of them into a hug and kissing the top of their heads. "Good ride?"

"Yes," they all lied. Harry put his arm around Lily.

"Have you seen James or Al?" Lily shook her head.

"What about Hugh or Rosie?" Hermione asked, scanning the crowds for her kids.

"Uh, no," Lily mumbled, turning red. Hermione looked at her sharply.

Luckily she was saved from answering by the arrival of Olivia's parents and siblings, although Hermione continue to survey her.

"Susan!" Emily's mother, Hannah, cried.

"Hello, Hannah," Susan replied. Olivia's father put his arm around his wife, and shook hands with Neville and Harry.

"Neville, good to see you again. Harry, it's been way too long," He said gruffly.

"Good seeing you, Seamus," Harry replied, smiling. Olivia looked disgruntled to be standing with her two sisters, who were nine and four, respectively. All three of them had the same straight dark hair. The adults were catching up and their crowd grew larger with the arrival of James, Albus, Rose and Hugo. James still looked disgruntled while Hugo looked embarrassed, staying with his mother.

Lily looked around the platform and saw Lorcan and Lysander with their parents at the other end. With a quick glance at her own mother, she prayed that Ginny wouldn't look across and she her old school friend; she couldn't handle another encounter with Lorcan right now.

A few feet from the Scamanders were Scorpius and his family. Lily watched them eagerly. His father was tall, thin and blonde as well. Scorpius looked astonishingly like him but with small differences. His face wasn't as pointed, his hair wasn't as light. His mother stood next to them, small and curvy, with darker blonde hair that Scorpius seemed to inherit. She was pale as well, and when Scorpius walked up to them, she pulled him into a hug. He was already as tall as her. His father put his arm around his wife and steered his family off the platform and towards the parking lot.

"Ready, Lils?" Her father's voice brought her to her family. She tore her eyes away from the Malfoys, turned to her father and smiled. He smiled back and led her into the parking lot, just like Mr. Malfoy had done to his own family.

---

Christmas was a large affair at the Potter-Weasley house. It had to be with so many kids. As promised, Ginny and Hermione took Lily and Rosie out for a girls only shopping trip; shopping wasn't exactly Lily's cup of tea but she needed to buy some presents and spend some time with her mum.

The Potters went into the forest behind their house to pick out a Christmas tree. As the youngest, Lily had the final decision on which tree they brought home, and James, as the oldest, had the privilege of cutting the tree down with his father, the Muggle way.

Things were strained between Lily and James. The one time Ginny had sat down with Lily to discuss the matter, Lily had refused to say anything about it, except to say that James had completely embarrassed her and ruined a friendship within the span of five minutes, surely a record for him.

Later that night, Lily had snuck into Al's room, which was across the hall from hers, to confide in him about the incident. To her surprise, she found Al already aware of it.

"I know, James told me,"

"He what?!" She exclaimed. Al shushed her, pointing to the door to the bathroom that connected his room with James'.

"Be quiet! You want James to wake up and find us? He'll think we're conspiring against him and go completely berserk."

"Well, we are conspiring against him…"

"No,_ you're _conspiring against him," he corrected. "I'm merely a neutral third party that has to listen to both of you whine," he sighed. "It's one of the many benefits of being the middle child,"

"Now who's whining?" Lily teased.

"Look, I'm not saying he did the right thing but he was doing what he _thought_ was right,"

"It was embarrassing,"

"Okay, so he definitely went about it the wrong way,"

"Obviously," Lily muttered darkly.

"Look at this from his point of view. Him and Scorpius hate each other—"

"For no reason!"

"Trust me, Lily, both of them are equally guilty in their relationship,"

Lily pouted, unwilling to believe Al, wanting to blame James for everything but that little voice in the back of her brain was nagging her again; Scorpius had fought back. In fact, he was the first person to use his wand on the train, and he attacked Rose, not James.

"Fine," Lily crossed her arms.

"His little sister was with Malfoy, which – wait, why were you with Malfoy?"

Lily glared at him.

"Never mind, then. Anyway, his little sister was with Malfoy, who he sees as mean and a bully. And James really took Mum's words to heart; he thinks it's his duty to watch over us as the eldest. So give him a break,"

From that night on, Lily became civil to James but cold; he adopted the same attitude, and Lily had a feeling it was because Al had spoken to him, too.

The Potters and the Weasleys had a tradition on Christmas. They would open their presents at their houses, then Hermione and Ron would come to Harry and Ginny's for brunch before they all went to Grandma Weasley's for a fabulous Christmas dinner.

Christmas morning arrived and Lily woke early to find a large pile of presents at the end of her bed. One benefit to having a very large family was that on holidays, you got a lot of gifts. Scrambling to the floor, Lily saw a note on the top box.

'Open mine first,

Dad'

Lifting the small square box wrapped in silver, she tore of the wrapping and gasped.

"Oh, wow, Dad," she breathed.

Inside the box was a silver bracelet, one small charm dangling off of it: a small, silver Snitch. Awkwardly clipping it on her wand arm, she held her hand up to admire the bracelet twinkling in the light. Looking back at the box, she saw a second note.

'Lily,

Each Christmas, I will give you one charm to represent the special memories we have shared, until you turn seventeen, at which point you are a legal witch and no longer my little girl (although, I will probably always consider you that – forgive me, it's a problem we fathers have.) Happy Christmas. I love you.

Dad'

Smiling softly, she continued to open her gifts. Albus had bought her a new Muggle book about a man who turned into a bug (she giggled as she read the back summary, what would Muggles think of next?) James had bought her a silver broomstick to go with her little Snitch on her bracelet; her heart melted upon seeing it and she knew she couldn't be mad at him anymore. She had a Weasley sweater in blue (to match her eyes, according to Grandma). Hermione and Ron provided a new book on Charms that Lily was actually excited for (usually, Aunt Hermione's books were shelved to collect dust), a large box of the newest Weasley Wizard Wheezes products, courtesy of Uncle George and Aunt Angie, not to mention all the presents from her cousins and her friends (Lily much preferred Emily's knitted white wool scarf to Victoire's flimsy sheer scarf made of some lacey material).

Soon the smell of pancakes lured Lily from her room. Al exited his room at the same time, sniffing hopefully, and the two bounded down the stairs together.

James was already seated at the table, waiting for his food. Lily marched right up to him and held out her hand. James looked down to see his present sitting in her palm. He looked up at her.

"Help me put it on?" She asked softly. James smiled and put the charm on her bracelet, all the while thinking that he was quite glad his sister wasn't mad at him anymore, and relieved he wasn't going have to speak to his father about the situation.

The family of five enjoyed their Christmas. They shared their brunch with Hermione, Ron, Hugo and Rose; Hugo had brought Lily a box of assorted chocolates, mumbling an apology as his ears turned red.

"Why chocolate?" Lily asked.

"Dad said whenever you get a girl mad, you should buy her chocolate or flowers," he mumbled.

The kids enjoyed an enormous snowball fight in the late afternoon, the forest behind Godric's Hollow providing an excellent landscape for the war. It was Hugo, Lily and Albus versus James and Rose. Lily tried not to feel too satisfied when she hit James with a particularly large snowball.

Cold, shivering and excited, the children hurried home for some hot cocoa and a hot shower before rushing off to the Burrow for Christmas dinner, all in their signature Weasley sweaters; Hugo had received a maroon one again, much to his displeasure.

Christmas dinner was typical. Charlie had too much wine and challenged Bill to an arm wrestling match, breaking the table in the process; Fleur talked loudly over Celestina's Christmas special, causing Molly to give her dirty looks; Victoire complained of all the calories in the food while Teddy rolled his eyes at her, forcing her to eat another dessert; and Grandpa Weasley cornered Hermione and Percy to discuss their views on a law making Muggle education prior to Hogwarts compulsory.

Lily fell asleep on the car ride home on James' shoulder. Prodded awake, she sleepily stumbled her way to her room, where she was back asleep before her head hit the pillow.

---

The rest of Lily's break flew by in a blue of homework and snowball fights with Hugo. Emily would spending the last night of the holiday at the Potters and leaving for Kings Crossing the next morning together as Neville returned to Hogwarts early and Hannah couldn't leave the Leaky Cauldron unattended.

Lily was looking forward to Emily's visit. The morning of had her bouncing about the living room.

"Lily, calm down," her mother said, glancing at the clock. She's not coming for another twenty minutes,"

Still, Lily stayed in the living room until Neville and Emily stepped out from it half an hour later.

The two girls shared an enjoyable day together. Harry had created a portable fire for them that they took into the shed behind her hour. Albus joined them and three shared an invigorating conversation about James and his temper, Race and Frank's relationship (apparently, Frank had sent Race an elaborate gift consisting of a riddle to break the spell on a box to reveal a gaudy necklace; Frank had received a scrap of paper with happy Christmas scribbled on it) and Lily's problem with Lorcan. He had sent Lily a drawing he did of her for Christmas. It was a pretty decent picture of Lily on the lounging on the common room couch, reading a book, the window behind her showing the snow falling outside. Lily had no idea when he could have drawn it, or if he made the scenario up and drew Lily from memory. None of them knew he could draw. Both Albus and Emily agreed that if he asked Lily out, she needed to say no if she didn't like him like that.

At the end of the night, Lily and Emily went to shower before bed; Lily in her shower, and Emily used the boy's shared shower. Lily had just turned the water on when she heard a blood-curdling scream from across the hall. Hastily throwing on a robe, Lily dashed into the boy's bathroom.

In the bathroom was the funniest sight Lily had ever seen. Emily was standing in the shower, her head poking out form the curtain that she clutched tightly shut. Her cheeks were bright red, and her sopping hair was sticking out in places and clung to the curtain. James was holding a towel around his waist with both hands, his face brighter red than Emily's. Albus was standing the doorway, his eyes closed in a most pained expression.

"Em, are you okay?"

"Yes!" She squeaked shrilly. "Quite alright!"

Lily looked at James and Albus. "Get out, you're boys!"

James turned around and tried to leave so quickly that he walked into the doorframe by accident. Bouncing off the frame, clutching his towel to him even tighter, he full out ran into his bedroom and slammed the door. Al kept his eyes closed, still grimacing, and slowly backed out into his room. Emily reassured her once more before Lily exited into Albus' room.

"Al, what happened?" She asked, waving her hand in front of his face to get his attention.

"Emily was in the shower when James came in, wanting to shower. He thought I was in there, so he crept up to the curtain and ripped it open, hoping to scare me—"

"And terrifying poor Emily," Lily choked out, trying not to giggle.

"So Emily is screaming, and she scared James so badly that he jumped and ended up dropping his towel," Al shuddered. "I've seen more of James than I care to. So has Emily,"

For the sake of Emily, Lily made Al and James swear to never repeat what happened to anyone; both were adamant to agree. She also kept a straight face for the rest of the night, which was surprisingly hard to do whenever she was ran into James or Emily, both of them turning red.

Lily had thoroughly enjoyed her holiday, she thought as she climbed into bed that night, Emily's deep breathing already coming from her makeshift bed on the floor. But she couldn't wait to be back with her friends on the train tomorrow, even if that meant facing Lorcan, just as long as she wasn't constantly surrounded by her embarrassing brothers!

**Authors Notes: Fourteen pages just for you guys. So please, review! **


	9. Happy Birthday, Lily!

**Author's Notes: Thank you all very much! Here's the next chapter. It's quite a filler chapter so enjoy the fluff as next chapter brings a big event that will definitely end the happiness. One question for everyone though… Did anyone pick up on who Olivia's mother is? Or what book Al gave Lily? Also, everyone should read my response to Namaste234, as it has some information about what's happening when this story ends that you might like to know!**

**Namaste234: I'm sorry, but this is a Lily/Scorpius fic, and that's where it will end up eventually. But in the mean time, you'll just have to wait and see whom Lily dates. =X I do love Lorcan though, and I plan on writing companion pieces to this story once I'm done to explore all the relationships and how they come about: Lorcan and his eventual girl, James and his girl, Emily and her boy, etc., etc. So keep an eye out of for Lorcan's story and I may also write a Lorcan/Lily fanfic as well! (They really are just so cute together, aren't they?)**

**Loumia: No gift from Scorpius… yet!**

**ISNAS: I'm very glad you love Newt; he's my favorite character! I was hoping everyone else would love him too. He's just so damn loveable. **

**PassionatelyFeline: First off, thank you very much for always leaving such detailed and great reviews. Second, in regards to Scorpius' beliefs, I believe things really changed for Draco after the war. He was a parrot, repeating his family's beliefs and he suffered the consequences for that. Draco was always just proud, never really an actual racist. Being a Death Eater showed him what it really meant to hate. His change plus his wife would make their household more open minded but still very proud. Also, Narcissa's main focus was always on her family, not the war, so he really respects that. The two ideals of being a Malfoy are pride and family. I hope you see how proud Scorpius is already (always well dressed, even when dressed down, declaring that they never apologize) and later on, you will see the family aspect come into play as Scorpius really loves his father, mother, and grandmother. Of course, Scorpius can't see Narcissa as often as he likes because that means he has to tolerate Lucius, who is still a big ass. =P**

**Also thanks to cutelilbunnyfufu4ever, juliagoolia, kikomimo727, Violet Strawberri, mangotango101, and merdarkandtwisty!**

**Enjoy!**

Chapter 9: Happy Birthday, Lily!

Lily's spring term settled itself back into some realm on normalcy. Hugo seemed to have learned his lesson and kept his mouth shut about Lorcan. The girls and boys didn't spend nearly as much time together as they did in the fall but the time they had together saw Lorcan and Lily acting completely normal between each other, as if the kiss had never happened. Although there were still a few times where Lily caught Lorcan staring at her, causing both parties to blush.

Things changed as Hogwarts moved into February. Ravenclaw won the match versus Hufflepuff, leaving Slytherin in first place, Gryffindor in second, Ravenclaw in third, and Hufflepuff in fourth. The first Hogsmeade weekend landed on Valentines Day, causing many of the Hogwarts girls to run amuck in corridors in crowds, giggling loudly. The weather on the 14th was mild. Lily expected no Valentines, although looking back on the day, she should have realized what would happen.

After breakfast, the third years and above left for Hogsmeade, the boys looking nervous as they met up with their dates. All of the first years ate breakfast together and as Lily was exiting the Great Hall, Lorcan tapped her on the shoulder.

"Hey, Lils. Care to go for a walk around the lake? It's really nice out," he said. Lily nodded and followed him out the door and down the steps. The pair walked in a comfortable silence at the side of the lake, occasionally chatting for a moment about school or Quidditch. Lily was very glad that their relationship had gone back to normal.

"Lily?" Lorcan asked, stopping in midstep. Lily stopped and suddenly she felt again as if something had changed or shifted in between them.

"Yes?"

"I think you're really pretty," he said, barely blushing.

"Oh, thanks," Lily shifted uncomfortable.

"And really smart, and funny, too," he continued, despite Lily's silent wish that he would stop.

"I know I'm dorky but I would be really happy if you would—if you could—" he paused and pulled out his wand.

"_Rosadea—_No, I mean,_ Rosoida—Rosoideae!_" Roses popped out of the end of his wand.

"Lily Potter, would you be my girlfriend?" He asked, holding out the bouquet of roses. Lily stared at him for so long, mouth open, mind black, that Lorcan started to falter.

"Oh, um, I'm sorry if you don't like roses, it's what McGonagall taught me… and Hugo said girls love flowers…"

"I'm sorry," Lily whispered, mortified.

"What for? OH. Oh. Okay, um," Lorcan turned bright red. "Bye."

He dropped the roses and ran back to the castle. Tears pricked Lily's eyes as she bent down to pick up the roses and moved to sit under a tree. She stayed out there all afternoon, as she couldn't bear to go inside and see Lorcan.

---

Lily's rejection of Lorcan was the final straw for the already fragile links of the first years. It was now silently agreed that the boys had each other, and the girls had each other, and the two groups should never mingle. At meals, Lily, Emily and Olivia sat separated from the first year boys by not only James and his friends, Rose and her friends, and Albus, but also a handful of fourth and fifth years. In class, the girls took the center front seat (something Olivia constantly whined about) while Lorcan, Lysander and Hugo took the very last seat in the back (something Lorcan constantly whined about). Every shared space had its boundaries: the library, where the girls sat in a corner while the boys sat a front table, separated by dozens of bookshelves; the common room, where the girls stayed by the fire, while the boys took by the staircases; and even outside, where certain trees were marked as boy territory or girl territory.

It was a sad time for Lily. Every time she passed the boys, Lorcan turned red and stared at his feet, frowning. Lysander glared at her and Hugo grimaced, giving a noncommittally shrug of his shoulders. While she wasn't very close to Lysander and she missed Lorcan, nothing was like Hugo not choosing Lily's side. It shocked her as it was a move she could have never predicted. He had been against them making any friends outside the family, and yet he chose his new friends over his family.

It even affected her relationship with her brothers: James was always with Rose, who Hugo had a claim on, leaving Lily just Albus left of her family to spend time with (she would hardly go spend time with the Ravenclaws to see Louis or Dominique). She wasn't used to not being surrounded by a large loving group of family and friends.

This was _not_ the way she would have liked her spring term to go.

As February turned into March, the weather seemed to reflect Lily's mood. Valentine's Day was the only warm day in a terrible and cold winter. Snow swirled down the sky violently, causing the students to wrap all themselves in scarves and gloves and coats to avoid the bitter attack on their skin. Lily had no gloves; she had lost hers back in the beginning of the school year and she adamantly refused to wear Lorcan's. He wouldn't take them back when Emily, playing messenger, tried to give them to him. Even now, early Saturday afternoon, as Lily hurried to Hagrid's hut for tea with Olivia and Emily, she kept her bare, raw hands shoved into her pockets for some protection against the brutal wind.

Pulling her hand out of its warm home, she knocked on Hagrid's door, pain shooting from her raw and cracked knuckles as they made contact with the wood. Joining Olivia in jumping up and down to remain warm, they impatiently waited as Hagrid came to the door.

"I'm comin', I'm comin'," He pulled the door open and the three immediately dashed inside. "Oh, well come in, then,"

He smiled at the three girls. " So, Lily, I see ye got my letter?"

"Hagrid," Lily scolded pleasantly. "You saw that prefect give it to me, you know I got the letter."

He waved his hand, as big as a dustbin, carelessly through the air, causing Olivia to duck as he nearly knocked her head off. "I know, I know. You or Hugo just haven' been to see me since before Christmas!

"I know, I'm sorry," Lily apologized sincerely.

"An' your dad is gettin' worried,"

"My dad?" Hagrid chuckled.

"Yeah. We are still friends." His chest puffed up importantly. "After all, I was the one who got 'im from the rubble of Godric's Hollow after You-Know-Who got 'im,"

"Yes, Hagrid, we know," the three girls chorused with smiles.

"So, Lily, how are ya?" Lily hesitated, considering lying to her father's close friend but in the end, she spilled her guts, talking for nearly ten minutes straight.

"… and now none of the boys are even talking to me, including Hugo! My own flesh and blood!" She finished dramatically, sighing and slouching down in the chair.

"Don' worry about them, Lily," Hagrid said shaking his head. "Lorcan is jus' embarrassed, he'll get over it. And as for Hugo… you have other friends, so why can' he?"

"That's exactly what I said," Emily commented in a singsong voice. Olivia merely nodded as she could not speak; her mouth was glued shut by Hagrid's fudge on the table.

"Well, Emily, is it? Ye got a good head on yer shoulders," Hagrid pointed at Lily. "And ye could do some good listenin' to her,"

Lily mumbled under her breath as Emily sat there looking smug. The three girls enjoyed their day with Hagrid as he told them stories of wild creatures like dragons and giant spiders, running back to the castle in time for dinner through the freezing rain storm that had started, their pockets stuffed with Hagrid's rock solid fudge they couldn't refused.

As February became March, rain seemed to be the constant weather. The students squelched through the mud to go Herbology and the Quidditch match between Hufflepuff and Gryffindor had been a messy affair; luckily, Luke Plympton caught the snitch within ten minutes (Olivia made Lily grudgingly admit that Luke had done a good job). The boys continued to ignore the girls, and it became much easier to do so as their work became harder.

The one positive thing in Lily's spring term was her new friend. Even if Hugo, Lorcan and Lysander didn't talk to her, she had a new friend in the form of Newt Flint. He excitedly exclaimed hello anytime they passed in the hallway, occasionally visited her for a few moments during meals (something James was always nasty about, confronting Lily or Newt or shooting them dirty looks), and once, they went flying together on a Saturday. Being Newt's friend meant that Lily was now seeing more of Scorpius. While Newt was his energetic self in the hallway, Malfoy merely nodded, an occasionally, "Potter," added to his hello. He never came over during meals (Newt said Scorpius didn't want to fight with James, something Lily greatly appreciated) and the day they went flying, Scorpius had detention for giving James canary wings.

Lily quite enjoyed Newt's company, but she also tried to be quite sneaky by asking side questions about Scorpius, trying to learn as much as she could about them. Newt seemed to realize what she was doing, though, and he always politely side stepped answering them without Lily even realizing, a smirk on his face. Although, Lily wasn't the only one asking these questions. Newt asked her some strange questions that Lily figured Newt wasn't the one really asking. One day, Newt badgered her for ten minutes about Lorcan after she made the mistake of talking about her first kiss. It wasn't until she specifically stated that she wasn't interested in him did he leave her be.

---

Lily awoke on her birthday to a terrible, dark thunderstorm raging outside. The entire castle seemed to be dark, despite all the candles, occasionally lighting up with a flash of lightening, thunder rumbling through the corridors, echoing.

"Happy Birthday, Lily!" She heard someone squeal before two bodies dove onto Lily in bed, causing a small pileup in the Gryffindor first year dorm room. Olivia and Emily had stolen the pillows right from under her head and were whacking her with them, over and over again.

"Guys," Lily laughed. "That's not fair! You're using my own pillows against me!"

Laughing, the girls stopped. "Happy Birthday,"

"Thanks,"

The three girls headed down to breakfast together, still giggling, causing other students to look at them strangely. When she reached the table, James conducted a small group of friends and her family to sing Happy Birthday to her, loudly, off-key, and obnoxiously. By the end of the song, almost the entire Gryffindor table (and Louis, she could hear him from the Ravenclaw table) had joined in. At the end of the last note, James and Rose put their wands together in the air over Lily's head and out burst copious amounts of glitter, confetti and sparkles. Two doves from Rose's wand flew over to her, wrapping a blue ribbon saying Happy Birthday in her hair. Lily watched as the doves flew up into the enchanted ceiling and got lost in the thunderous storm.

Grinning largely and slightly blushing, she sat down with Albus and James for breakfast, picking the confetti out of her hair. Owls swooped down on her bearing cards and gifts from her family members, which she tore off the paper happily. Midway through her birthday festivities, Newt came skipping over. James scowled, but kept his comments to himself for Lily's sake.

"Happy birthday, my fair lady!" He said, bowing deeply and offering her a beautifully wrapped, thin, square package.

"Wow, thanks, Newt!" She said, hugging him. "You didn't have to get me anything,"

"It was my pleasure. Open it," Lily eagerly tore off the paper, feeling guilty for ruining something so beautifully wrapped. She gasped in delight when she saw what he got her. "Tada! It's a muggle fairy tale! Completely with a redhead princess, and a tall, dark and handsome knight! It's our future together, Lily love,"

Lily laughed, and playful shoved him away. Emily laughed with her as she had no problems with Newt. Olivia, however, refused to talk to him because he was a Slytherin. She sat at the table, arms crossed tightly over her chest, scowling deeply, and throwing dark, furtive glances at the fairytale as if it had somehow personally offended her. James scowled in Newt's direction. Rose on James' other side, seemed to be warming up to Newt, as she smiled at him, until James elbowed her sharply and she rearranged her face into an acceptable grimace.

As Lily walked through the hall of Hogwarts that day, she noticed a lot of people saying happy birthday to her. _A lot_. A lot more than Lily had expected.

"Who was that?" Emily murmured as a gangly and pimply Hufflepuff seventh year wished Lily a good birthday, and continued on her way.

"I have no idea," Lily said, wide eyed, as a pair of second year Ravenclaws passed her and wished her a happy birthday as well.

"It's because you're a Potter," Albus said, appearing out of nowhere. Emily and Olivia jumped, looking scared, but Lily paid no notice; she was used to Albus' quiet nature.

"Because I'm a Potter? What does that have to do with anything?"

"Think about it, Lily. Everyone—well, almost everyone," he amended as a group of Slytherins hissed and booed at them as they passed. "wants to know you. Dad is the most famous guy around and you're his daughter. It's bragging rights. Everyone's going to go tell their friends and family they talked to Lily Potter, Harry Potter's daughter."

"Did you and James get this?" Lily asked as Al snorted.

"Oh yeah. James gets it a lot, but it's also cause he's natural popular. All the girls love him,"

"Yeah," Emily added. "His eyes are so dreamy,"

Olivia stared at Emily, who seemed to realize what she just said, and turned red.

"They love you, too," Lily frowned, feigning deafness when it came to her brother and him being _dreamy_.

"I guess. But it's just cause I look like Dad," He shrugged. Lily frowned deeper, opening her mouth to protest that Al was special, too, but he said goodbye, and turned into the nearest classroom. As she walked, she continued to wonder just how hard things might be for Al to live up to Harry when Olivia interrupted.

"Lily, did you hear Emily? James is _dreeeeamy_," She teased in a lofty voice, guffawing loudly as Emily turned even redder. Lily clapped her hands over her ears.

"La, la, la! I can't hear you!" She cried as she took of running to class, her hands still over her heads. Olivia followed, shouting, "Dreamy! Dreamy!"

---

Later that evening, Lily penned a thank you letter to her parents for their gifts, and left, alone, to go to the Owlery to mail it. She had written in the letter details of her week at school, how someone had managed to glue all the desks to the ceiling (Lily had a strong suspicion that it was James and Jesse), how she was still doing very well in Charms and Astronomy, but still having trouble with Transfiguration without the help of Lorcan. Quaffles was sitting on top of the highest banister, his back to Lily, and his feathers ruffled up.

"Quaffles, come here. I need you to take a letter to Mum and Dad."

The owl hooted, glancing over his shoulder at her, before shuffling his feet away from her, back still to her.

"Quaffles," she growled at him. The owl hooted again. "Come on," she whined. "It's cold up here and it's my birthday!" She stomped her foot childishly, causing a few owls to glare at her reproachfully.

"Is it now? And how old are you turning? Four?" A voice drawled from behind her. Lily jumped and Scorpius' smirked widened.

"Excuse me? I'm twelve, thank you very much!"

"Really? With the foot stomping, it seemed like you were so much younger," Lily glared and squashed the urged to stomp her foot and tell him indignantly that she wasn't a child. Scorpius seemed to know what she wanted to do because he laughed loudly, crossing the room to the far side and coaxed down a large, eagle owl and mailed his own letter in the silence.

"I'm just pulling your chains, Potter. Don't get your knickers in a bunch," Lily rolled her eyes and stuck her tongue out. "So what are you doing here?"

"What do you think? I'm mailing a letter," an uncharacteristic smirk, reminiscent of Scorpius, graced Lily's face. Scorpius smiled at the gesture. "But my owl won't come down."

"Which one is he?" Lily pointed up at Quaffles, who had his head peeking out from under his wing to watch them.

"Beautiful owl," He commented, walking underneath him. Quaffles hooted pleasantly. Lily muttered something sounding like "suck-up".

"Come here, Quaffles, is it?" He held out his arm and Quaffles flew down and landed upon Scorpius' arm gracefully. Lily stared at him.

"How--? How did you do that?" She asked, shocked. Scorpius chuckled.

"It's just a matter of being nice to him, Potter. Now, where's your letter?" He pulled the letter out of Lily's freezing hands and tied it to the owl's leg. Crossing over to the window, Quaffles took off as well. Scorpius' eagle owl was just a small blemish on the horizon. "Safe flight,"

"Who was the letter to?" He asked, leaning against the window frame. A cold breeze blew in the window as the freezing rain continue to pelt down, and Lily rubbed her gloveless hands together, blowing hot air against them.

"My p-parents," she stuttered through chattering teeth. Scorpius shook his head at her. "Thanking t-them for my p-p-present,"

"Come here," he gestured for her to walk closer and he reached forward to grab her cold hands, and started rubbing them between his own gloved hands, occasionally blowing down on them to try and warm them up. Lily's ears turned red.

"Hmm," he said thoughtfully, still rubbing her hands. "Everyone seemed to get you something. Even Newt. I'm afraid I didn't think of it,"

"It's a-alright," She shook her head at him and shivered, an idea suddenly hitting him. He pulled his hands away and began pulling off his green gloves.

"Here," He reached out, grabbed Lily's hand and slid the gloves on to them.

"Thanks," she whispered. The gloves were smooth and green on the outside, but on the inside they were filled with warm white wool. She felt warmth instantly flood her stomach and knew it wasn't from the gloves, but from the fact that he still had her hands in his.

"Happy Birthday, Potter," He said, his voice low and quiet. Lily knew as they stood there in silence, her looking up at him, that the change in the atmosphere was because of them, and she couldn't have welcomed it more.

Was it her imagination or was Scorpius leaning closer? He was definitely leaning down towards her and she responded by standing up on tiptoe. They were merely inches from each other when they heard footsteps pounding up the stairs and the door was pushed open, slamming into the wall with a loud bang that caused both Scorpius and Lily to jump away from each other, as if they were electrified.

"Malfoy, what's this?" Lily didn't know the boy personally; he was a fifth year Slytherin whose nasty reputation preceded him.

"None of your business, Nott," Scorpius said coolly. Lily saw him put his hand in his pocket. She had a feeling he was holding on to his wand. "I'll see you later, Potter,"

"Yeah," Lily said, backing away to the door. Nott was watching her and Malfoy was watching him. "Bye,"

She hurried down the stairs and ran all the way back to Gryffindor common room, glancing back over her shoulder once or twice. As she entered the common room, sitting down to do her homework with Emily and Olivia, a smile graced her lips that didn't disappear until long after she fell asleep.

**Author's Notes: D'aww. As I said earlier, enjoy that cute scene. It's gonna be the last for a while. Next chapter is mostly written, it is going to be a short chapter, but I'm hoping to get it up before I move back into college. As always, review please!**


	10. Revenge

**Author's Note: Here it is… the big dramatic moment! Hope you enjoy. Sorry for the delay—I didn't get it posted before I moved in, as I had hoped. Thank you all who reviewed – merdarkandtwsty, Violet Strawberri, Loumia, ISNAS, bellibella, LadyMageLuna, the ghoul in pyjamas, wallflower1208, cutelilbunnyfufu4ever, dancegirl232, Tor Mathin and tric1220hp.**

**PassionatelyFeline: You are the only one who wondered what would have happened, and for good reason. Would Scorpius have actually kissed Lily? No. He was being a little tease. Maybe he would have kissed her cheek. And as for Scorpius' siblings… Sorry, he's an only child. I know where you got that idea from though; I had a very tough time with wording that sentence. James was talking about how Scorpius is two years older than Lily. No father wants his baby daughter to date an older man. Haha. As for Draco's wife, Astoria… you'll just have to wait and see!**

Chapter 10: The Revenge

March blurred into April. The rain finally let up and a chilling, grey mist settled over the castle. The students couldn't see Hagrid marching across the grounds until he was right up on them, at which point, it was almost too late to get out of his way.

Lily stopped worrying about the boys and began to focus on her schoolwork. Emily gladly joined her every night in the library to start studying for exams, and Olivia only reluctantly followed. More often then not, the three girls would go to the library and Olivia would excuse her for the "bathroom" twenty minutes into studying and not return until the library was about to close.

The one thing that did distract Lily was the Quidditch match. After her Easter break (which it rained on, as well) and as their exams were dangerously close, Gryffindor and Slytherin faced each other in an eagerly awaited match. Gryffindor needed to win by at least fifty points in order to take first place, something Slytherin was trying to desperately prevent by targeting Albus. The pressure was on him to ultimately prevent the three very talented Chasers from scoring. All week, he had been surrounded by at least three other team members. Rose had even started to carry around her beater's bat as extra protection until Professor McGonagall made her put it back in her dorm.

Lily awoke on the day of the match to the sun shining brightly through her window, the first time, Lily felt like, in months. Olivia and Lily dressed hurriedly in red and gold and eagerly went to breakfast while Emily followed them. She seemed slightly more excited for this match; she wore some red and wasn't grimacing when they sat down to eat.

The Gryffindor team entered to loud cheers from three of the four tables. The Slytherins hissed and booed as the team passed. James, easily the most relaxed person in the crowd, responded by mooning them. Lily shakily covered her eyes as the remaining students catcalled him.

"Wow," Olivia said. "Hey, Emily, is his arse as dreamy as his eyes?"

"Shut up," she growled, whacking Olivia on the arm. Olivia laughed gleefully, her eyes twinkling.

James sat down next to them, grinning widely. Jesse sat with him, shaking his head. Albus sat across from Lily, looking mortified, as the rest of the team grouped around them.

"Why do I always have to see things I _really_ don't want to see?" Al groaned. Emily turned red.

"So," Lily said loudly to cover the awkward silence that fell. "Are you nervous, Al?"

"Yeah, isn't it coming down to you to make sure you guys stay fifty points ahead by not letting Slytherin score? You know, their Chasers are really good," Olivia pointed to him with her fork, her egg barely hanging on. Al turned green and didn't respond.

Lily whacked Olivia on the arm.

"What?" Olivia asked, indignantly, rubbing her arm where Lily and Emily hit her. Both girls glared at her. "What did I do?"

---

The first foul happened three minutes into the game. Madame Hooch's whistle cut through the game like a knife.

"_Foul_! You can't attack the keeper when the Quaffle is not within scoring range."

"Penalty shot for Gryffindor," Jesse Jordan called. "And Miss Ashby is the one to take it,"

Race pulled up in front of the Slytherin goal. She tossed her long, dark ponytail over her shoulder. She grinned widely and wiggled her fingers at the thick green Keeper. He scowled back at her. She took the Quaffle and raced off towards the goal, hurling the ball towards it with one powerful swing of her arm. The ball was a blur as it zoomed through the Keeper's arms and into the center goal. The sea of red and gold erupted into loud cheers.

"Ten points for Gryffindor! Zero for Slytherin," Jesse yelled over the cheering.

At seven minutes in, the Slytherin beater, a fifth year named Selick, went flying towards Gryffindor beater Everett Winchcombe, who was about to hit the Bludger. Selick pulled back his bat and swung, not at the Quaffle, but at Everett, whose nose promptly broke and began gushing blood. Rose hurried to help him but Everett, in a bloody rage, swung his bat and missed hitting Selick and instead hit Rose in the mouth.

"_Foul_!" The Gryffindors roared. Madame Hooch's whistle blew again.

This time James took the foul shot. He pulled up and pretended to flip a ponytail over his shoulder like Race. He wiggled his fingers at the Slytherin keeper and exaggeratedly batted his eyelashes.

"Take the shot, you pansy!" Race called from her broom. James grinned at her and threw the ball

The crowd was a mix of cheers and boos as the ball soared through the goal.

"Gryffindor, 20, Slytherin nil!" Jesse called.

No one scored in the next half hour. Slytherin fouled twice, both times by attacking Albus. Race missed one shot, while Clint Jackson missed the second. Gryffindor fouled once when James slammed into Scorpius trying to catch the Quaffle, and Scorpius nearly fell (Lily's heart nearly jumped out of her mouth when he slid off the broom). After he missed his foul shot, he angrily threw himself into the game. Once in possession of the Quaffle, he scored three times in a row, making it a Slytherin lead. Albus paled, his eye already blackened from an "accidental" punch from the Slytherin beater.

In the end, after an hour and fifteen minutes, Luke Plymton took a spectacular dive after playing defense as soon as Gryffindor reached fifty points ahead. James alone scored ten goals, six of them foul shots. The crowd came to its feet as Luke flew closer and closer to the ground, the Slytherin Seeker right on his tail. Both seekers went crashing into the ground, dirt and grass flying up into the air. The crowd held its breath as the two boys lay feebly on the ground. Finally, his face still stuck in the mud, Luke held up his right hand, the snitch grasped tightly in his fingers.

The Gryffindors screamed, jumping up and down. Lily was sure she was screaming the loudest as she took off on to the field, leading her fellow Gryffindors, where Albus was being lifted on to everyone's shoulders; the final score was two hundred and fifty to fifty, Gryffindor.

Albus successfully saved almost all the goals and won the game for Gryffindor. Al grinned at his sister as she stood admiringly beneath him, the Quidditch Cup held tightly in his hands, held high above his head.

"Hey, Lily!" James called, as he too was raised on to someone's shoulders. "Ready for the best party you will ever attend?"

Lily grinned.

---

A tall, hulking figure hurriedly shuffled down the dully-lit corridor. His hair was cut short to his head; the muscles of his arms were practically bursting out of his robes, the seams of which were screaming in protest. He slowed as he reached an intersection, creeping along the wall and hiding in the shadows. He pulled out his wand and slowly peeked around the corner. Down the hall, he could see the Head Boy, August Davies, patrolling the corridor.

"_Confundo,"_ He whispered, his voice low and gravelly. August stopped, a puzzled look crossing his face, and promptly turned around and walked the other way.

Quickly crossing the corridor with a snicker, the man stopped in front of the second door on the left. Knocking in a specific pattern, he waited until the door opened for him.

"You're late, Higgs," a voice drawled.

"Sorry," Higgs replied, scowling.

"Well, now that we're all here, _finally_, we can begin,"

Higgs entered the room and took a seat. It was an old, unused Potions room that sat at the very back of the school. Old torches burned to life and cast flickering glances across the four other guys' faces. One face in particular jumped out.

"What are you doing here, Nott?" Higgs sneered. Nott was only a fifth year; the rest of them were sixth and seventh years. Nott scowled back.

"I was invited by Avery,"

"Well, if you're done interrogating everyone, Higgs, I want to begin," Avery said. Higgs closed his mouth, giving Nott one last withering look, before scooting his chair closer to Vaisley on his other side. Silence fell between the five boys. The silence stretched from seconds into minutes, as the four boys looked cautiously at each other and their leader.

"I have a problem," Avery finally began softly. He was leaning against the old desk, his arms jauntily in his pockets, looking at the door. "Slytherin lost the Quidditch game,"

The four boys glanced at each other, again.

"To Gryffindor," Avery elaborated. "Which means, we've lost the Quidditch Cup, to Gryffindor, and most likely, we've lost the house cup, too, to Gryffindor,"

Avery fell silent again and there was a tense fear bubbling in the room. Vaisley shifted nervously. Higgs and Bletchley were stock still, staring at Avery, while Nott was leaning forward, eagerly drinking up everything he was saying.

"Who is in Gryffindor?" Avery shouted suddenly. Vaisley leaned away.

"Race Ashby? She scored a lot of goals today," he croaked out.

"Race? That little slut? I don't care about her, unless it's for a good romp in the field," Avery and Higgs snickered. "Who else?"

"Potter," Nott said, his voice ringing in the silence. Avery stared at him.

"Exactly," he whispered. "Potter. James Potter scored how many goals today?"

No one answered.

"Ten. Ten goals. And how many did Albus Potter block? Almost all of them! How did Gryffindor get so many House points? Because the teachers _adore_ them, the sons of bloody Harry Potter. They can do no wrong,"

"Excuse me," Vaisley said, his voice low and cold. "But haven't we always had a problem with the Potters since James first came to Hogwarts? He's always been a Chaser, he's always been pranking us. The other one has always been a little know-it-all,"

"Yes, Vaisley. We have always had a problem with them. But something is different this year. Anyone know what that is?" There was a silence as Nott's stomach twisted in excitement.

"The little brat," he breathed, his eyes shining. Avery smiled at him; it was terrifying.

"Exactly why I invited you, Nott. James and Albus Potter are smart. You can't deny they are talented and it has never been in our favor to attack them. The 'Chosen One' must have taught them a thing or two. But now they have a little sister that they adore here at school. A dim-witted, weak little girl,"

"Who tried to attack Scorpius," said Bletchley. He leaned forward out of the shadows. He had sat in silence, letting Avery work himself up, and successful terrify and impress the newcomer, Nott. That was Avery's style after all; he liked to impress with appearance and words. Personally, Bletchley was not one for show; he meant business. Avery stared at him and nodded.

"Nott," he asked, "Who did you see in the Owlery?"

"Malfoy and little Potter!" He exclaimed excitingly. Avery nodded again. "They seemed to be almost friends,"

"I tried to talk to Malfoy, see what he was up to, make sure he understood what he was forsaking. Our families are very close. Unfortunately, he told me to bugger off," Avery sniffed. Bletchley smirked.

"Luckily, I know how to change Malfoy's mind. I've talked to him." his smirk widened. "He loathes James Potter. He agreed,"

---

Lily, Olivia and a reluctant Emily arrived at the Pitch the weekend after the Quidditch game in the late morning. A few other students were already lounging under trees as the sun was warming the grounds, enjoying the sun before exams started on Monday.

Lily spun around happily, her arms outstretched. "It's so beautiful out. It's a perfect day for flying," She sighed, content. "I haven't flown in forever,"

Olivia nodded but Emily merely grumbled and glared as the three girls approached the broom shed, an old, rotting wooden shack, with its door hanging crooked.

"Aha!" Emily said, pointing to the door handle. "Let's see you get past the lock!"

Lily rolled her eyes, reached forward and pulled on the handle: the lock flopped open and revealed the pile of broom leaning in the corner. Emily's face fell as a broom was shoved into her hand.

"You're not getting out of it, Em," Olivia grinned, clearly enjoying Emily's discomfort. She threw her one leg over the broom; Lily had mounted hers already. "Let's go, Em,"

Pouting, Em stepped onto her broom.

"Hey, Olivia, I'll race you!" Lily said.

"You're on!"

The two took off immediately, speeding off towards the far goal post. Emily sighed, and pushed off, shakily rising a few feet before following her friends at a _normal_ pace.

"We should be studying for Transfiguration on Monday!" She called after them.

The three girls were enjoying themselves immensely, even Emily. A few more students had joined them, enjoying the day and sitting in the stands, watching the first years. After a dispute over who got to the goal post first, Emily agreed to fly higher than twenty feet and sit at the goalpost to judge their race around the pitch. It was hard to really race, as the school broomsticks were older than dirt with branches sticking out in every direction from its tail. But both Olivia and Lily were stubborn and competitive and wanted a rematch.

"Are you guys ready?" Emily called from the inside of the goal post. Lily and Olivia were poised just behind the farthest post. "We're only doing this once, okay?"

"Okay, okay, just say when!" Olivia cried irritably.

"Fine," Emily muttered before saying loudly, "On my mark… get set… GO!"

The two took off, a red blur followed by a dark one. Emily thought that the race could be unfair, as Olivia seemed to have a more broken broom, but that didn't seem to matter. As the two girls went around the curve to the other set of goalposts, Olivia pulled ahead and sped ahead of Lily.

And that was when things started to go wrong.

Lily had been winning, barely ahead, but winning. Olivia was very, _very_ fast and Lily was sure that she couldn't keep ahead much longer when suddenly, as she went around the curve, her broom slowed and Olivia passed her. Frowning and cursing the old broom that seemed to have given out, she sat up. The broom was still slowing and came to a standstill directly behind the middle post.

"What the… ?" Lily loosened her grip just as the broom came to life, shuddering and groaning.

All of a sudden, it went directly sideways, full speed, and Lily, who had barely been holding on, gripped tightly as the broom slammed her directly into the goalpost with a sickening crack.

"Oh!" Pain, warm and sharp, filled her side where she had hit the pole. She was sure she had broken a rib or two.

"LILY!" Emily screamed. Olivia, who hadn't looked back in the race, stopped a few feet short of her goal and looked across the field to watch Lily get smashed into a post.

"Oh, my god," she breathed, wide eyed. Emily took off unsteadily to Lily and Olivia followed.

"Em, careful not to get to close!" She cried after her. "That broom is jinxed!"

Lily's broom pulled back out and slammed her sideways into the goal post again, once, twice, three times, each time loosening her grip as her broken side was battered again and again. The back of the broom dipped down, causing Lily to grip tightly again as she started to slide down the back. By now, she heard Olivia cursing, Emily shrieking, and screams from, she assumed, the spectators in the stands.

The broom stopped tipping backwards, and now she sat awkwardly clutching the broom as it pointed diagonally back. The top pulled back, a bat to some invisible batter, and swung, causing Lily's head to crack across the metal, making her retch in the air and stars appeared before her eyes as she let go completely with her hands. Shaking her head slowly as if to get rid of a bug flying about her head, she clutched tightly to the broom with her legs as it dived downward, flipping in the air, allowing Lily to grab the handle. Something hot and sticky was pouring steadily down the side of her face.

She shot off uncontrollably through the goalpost towards Olivia and Emily, who were grouped together.

"Watch out!" She called but she sounded wrong; her voice sounded far away, she was slurring, and couldn't get the words to come out quick enough. But either way, the two scattered as she shot through them. She heard Emily scream and Olivia cry her name, and in the corner of her eye she saw Emily's figure rush by. She tried to turn to look but a pain shot from the top of her head and down her back, resting somewhere in pelvis. She had more pressing things to worry about, praying Olivia could handle things, as her broom jerked this way and that, shooting upward, downward and even a few flips. It climbed steadily higher and higher and Lily tried to stay awake because really, all she wanted to do was sleep, just sleep, _please_. Quickly, it pointed downward and began to dive. Halfway down, it pulled up and spun sideways, finally succeeding in throwing her off her broom.

As she fell downward, she heard the screams grow louder. Turning over in the air to face down, she saw the spectators running out of the stands and towards the ground but she knew they were all too far away. She saw him just before she hit the ground, half-hidden behind a post. He stood there, his wand trained on Lily as she fell, anger marring his handsome features, his mouth moving quickly and furiously. Even as she hit the ground hard, pain flooding her features, and began to welcome the darkness that creeped over her, the most dominant feeling was shock.

Scorpius Malfoy had jinxed her broom.

**Author's Notes: Don't kill me! It had to be done. As always, please review. **


	11. The Interrogation

**Author's Note: Here's Chapter 11. Thanks for all the reviews for last chapter (and for not killing me). You all seemed to enjoy the suspense, haha. Sorry for the long wait. I explain it at the end!**

Chapter 11: Interrogation

Soft, soothing voices were speaking quietly, far, far away from Lily. She wasn't quite sure where she was, but it was comfortable and warm. Her hand was in someone else's, their thumb tracing comforting circles across the back of it. Smiling slightly, she knew she didn't even want to be disturbed from here, where it didn't hurt. She wondered with a warm feeling that flooded her stomach if it was Scorpius holding her hand.

And then, as if catalyzed by thinking of Scorpius, pain filled her entire body, and she groaned, turning her head. Opening her eyes, a bright white blinded her, and she squinted to see who was sitting next to her in the Hospital wing, for she knew now that's where she was. James was sitting at her bedside, her hand in his as he continued to absentmindedly run his thumb along the back of her hand. Her father stood above him, looking tired with dark circles under his eyes, his hand on James' shoulder, giving it an occasional squeeze. James was staring straight across her body at something else while her father was staring at something across the hall, out of Lily's sight.

She shifted to see what her father was looking at, causing everyone's attention to snap to her.

"Lily!" Her mother cried. She had been sitting on the bed across from Lily. Harry must have been looking at her. Ginny jumped up from the bed and hurried to her. James tightened his grip on her hand and her father reached out and placed a hand on her leg.

"How are you, sweetheart?" Harry asked, softly.

"How do you think?" She mumbled angrily. Albus, who was sitting on the other side of her, laughed shakily, before cutting off abruptly and gulping.

"Are you in pain?

"Yes," she nodded, her voice raspy. Harry patted her leg before rushing off to Madame Pomfrey's office. "What happened?"

"Someone jinxed your broom," Ginny said, handing her a glass of water. James gripped her hand almost painfully. "It was pretty nasty,"

"Very nasty, indeed," Madame Pomfrey sniffed, carrying a tray of potions as she returned with Harry. She handed her the smoking goblet. "Here, drink this, for the pain,"

Lily obliged as she gulped down the potion that was surprisingly cold despite its steaming exterior. The nurse continued to hand Lily potions, saving one for last, saying it was a sleeping draught, for when Lily needed it.

"Thank you, Madame Pomfrey," Harry said earnestly. "You continue to save me and my family,"

The witch blushed and shook her head. "Merely doing my job, Mr. Potter. Now, if you excuse me, I told the Headmistress I would inform her when Lily woke,"

The nurse dashed away as Harry took his post over James again. He was still staring determinedly over Al's shoulder. The family sat in a comfortable silence, James still squeezing her hand, her father patting her leg absentmindedly, her mother's hand in her hair. She sighed, letting her eyes close and leaned into her mother's hand. She never wanted this moment to be disrupted.

Of course, that's usually when James opened his mouth.

"Who did it, Lily?" He asked quietly, still staring at Al.

"James," her mother scolded.

"You know who did it, don't you?" He persisted. Ginny glared at her son.

"James, you heard your mother," Harry said, quietly.

"It was a Slytherin. I know it was," he muttered to himself.

"James Sirius Potter, you shut your mouth right now!" Ginny said.

"It was Scorpius Malfoy," James stated, now staring at Lily. Lily's mouth gaped open and her eyes filled with tears. James eyes widened.

"It was—"

"ENOUGH!" Harry yelled. James closed his mouth and stared, wide-eyed and incredulous, at his feet. Lily shut her mouth and sniffed pathetically, her head pounding. The family fell into silence once more, to be broken by the sound of heels clicking far away and coming closer.

The door opened and Professor McGonagall walked in wearing her dressing gown, her back straight, surveying the room, and leaning heavily on a cane. Lily stared at it; she knew the Headmistress was old, but she had never seen her use a cane. She had always seemed to be stiff and unmovable. A cane meant she was weaker.

"Good evening, Headmistress," Al said softly, breaking the silence.

"Minerva," Her father said, striding forward to kiss the Professor on her cheek. "I suppose you never expected me back in here,"

"I expected you to come to the school for James, not Lily," She replied, nodding hello at Ginny. Harry sighed and James blushed.

"I suppose you're right,"

"Potter," All three children and Harry looked expectant. "_Lily_. There's something I need to ask. Do you know who did this to you?"

Lily swallowed hard and set her jaw. Could she tell on him? What would that do to him? Would he be expelled? And as terrible as he was to her, her heart wrenched with the feelings it still held. If she told, it would break him like he broke her. James looked at her expectantly.

"James, Al," her mother said softly, but firmly. "I think it's time for you to go to bed. You have exams in the morning."

James nodded, squeezing Lily's hand once more before standing up and saying goodbye to his parents. Albus stood and stared down at his younger sister, his face so sad that Lily thought her heart would just break. He leaned down to kiss her cheek tenderly. She wondered why he was being so gentle until her face started throbbing. A thought suddenly occurred to Lily as she ran over McGonagall's words.

"Wait, exams? What day is it?" She asked nervously. Her parents exchanged looks.

"Lilybean," her father began tenderly. "It's Wednesday. It's about two in the morning,"

"My exams!" She cried.

"You will, of course, be excused from all exams due to the circumstances," McGonagall told her promptly, surveying Lily over her glasses. "I know you are a good student, just like Al,"

"Unlike my other son, who needs to get to bed and pass his exams," Ginny said loudly, giving James a look.

"If anyone asks, you were in the hospital wing to visit your sister, and I gave you permission to be out after curfew, _if you go straight to your room_," McGonagall turned her hawk like stare to James, who grinned sheepishly at her. Al merely nodded.

"Of course, Minnie. Wouldn't dare breaking your trust. Goodnight!" James quipped. Her brothers rushed out, James casting one last critical glance at Lily. McGonagall stepped closer to the bed.

"Professor?" Lily asked. "What happened to Emily? I could have sworn I saw her fall,"

"Miss Longbottom did indeed slip off her broom, but thankfully Miss Finnegan was quick enough to get her back on her broom before she even really fell off. Longbottom has promised both me and her father that she would not even attempt to fly again without some sort of lessons,"

"Oh, good," Lily sighed, leaning back against the pillows.

"Miss Potter, do you have anything you can tell us? Something that can help us punish the person who did this. Someone who was behaving strangely, looking at you strangely?"

"No, nothing like that," Lily murmured. She wished her mother would stop rubbing her back; she would feel a lot less guilty about this if she stopped.

"Lily, what did you see?" Ginny asked quietly, staring down at her daughter. Her daughter's blue eyes stared back at her, shining bright, terrified.

"I saw… I saw Scorpius Malfoy," she choked out. McGonagall's mouth set into a thin, grim line, her nostrils flaring. She nodded once.

"Disciplinary action will be taken at once. Miss Potter, do try and get better," She nodded farewell to the family before he and set off for her office. Harry gripped the edge of the bed tightly, his knuckles turning white, and exhaled loudly.

"Mum?" Lily whimpered.

"Yes, darling?"

"He really hurt me," she whispered and began crying in earnest. Ginny wrapped her arms around her youngest, her only daughter, and met Harry's sad eyes above Lily's head.

They both knew Lily wasn't talking about the physical pain Scorpius inflicted on her.

---

"Oh, Lily, you look _awful_,"

"Thanks, Em," She replied dryly. It was Friday afternoon. Emily and Olivia had come to visit after their last exam; Madame Pomfrey had only allowed family visits until then. Lily's parents had gone home Wednesday morning, after Madame Pomfrey promised that Lily would live with no major damage.

Lily knew she looked awful. The entire right side of her face was purple and there was a deep gash on forehead, right at her hairline, from when her head hit the goalpost. She had three broken ribs and a mild concussion. And apparently, her brain was inflamed, whatever that meant. All Lily knew was that she had to take a dozen different potions a day and had to stay in the Hospital Wing until the leaving feast to go home. Her mother had already gone to get the potions Lily would need to take at home and she had sworn up and down to her mother, her grandmother and the Hogwarts nurse that she would not exert herself at all for the next few weeks.

"You're so lucky that you got to miss exams," Olivia grumbled, tearing the wrapping off one of Lily's get well chocolate frogs from the mound on her nightstand; all her relatives in addition to many unknown well-wishers had sent her a ton of candy, flowers and cards.

"Yeah, real lucky," Emily scoffed. "She nearly died!"

"Hey, there has to be some perk to all this," Lily shrugged, gesturing to Hospital Wing. "So tell me, what's been going the whole week I've been held captive in here?"

Olivia and Emily exchanged furtive looks. Lily groaned.

"I know you have news about Scorpius. Just tell me. I'm going to here it otherwise,"

"Well," Emily began, scooting to the edge of the seat. "Wednesday after he, you know, jinxed your broom, McGonagall called him up to the front table during breakfast. And _everyone_ knew already what he did to you so it got deadly quiet. It was scary how angry McGonagall looked,"

"Like hell froze over," Olivia interjected through a mouthful of chocolate frog. Emily rolled her eyes.

"McGonagall took him away and I heard from James that he missed exams all day," Emily whispered dramatically. "He wasn't at dinner, either."

"So where is he now?" Lily asked, hating herself for wanting to know the answer so badly.

"Oh, he's still here," Emily said darkly.

"He was at breakfast the next day," Olivia said. "The Slytherins looked a mess. The whole lot of them had a mess of black eyes and cut lips and swollen cheeks. It was weird,"

"I think someone told on what he did, so he tried to beat them up for it and a whole bunch of people got detention from it," Emily said.

"Yeah, I heard that the Slytherins were lined up in the common room and interrogated for information, one by one," Olivia added.

"But," Emily sighed. "Somehow he wormed his way out of it. He took his exams and he gets to ride the train home tomorrow. My dad said the whole thing was under investigation, and the right person would be punished when they had enough evidence,"

Olivia scoffed. "As if we all didn't know he did it. A fourth year Ravenclaw saw him running from the field after you fell,"

Lily fell silent and frowned. She wasn't the only witness of him there, then.

"Lily?" Emily said softly. She looked up. "I know you really liked him,"

Lily glanced away as her ears turned red. "Not anymore,"

She just had to figure out how to _stop_ liking him.

---

Lily left the Hospital Wing just in time for the leaving feast. James gave her a standing ovation as she crossed the hall in the midst of hundreds of whispered conversations.

"That's her, that's Lily Potter!"

"She says Malfoy attacked her,"

"As if, I say she's bitter,"

"I dunno, why would she lie about that?"

"I heard that her dad and his dad have this feud _thing_,"

She kept her eyes closed as she sat at table, taking a deep breath. Opening her eyes, she turned and looked at the Slytherin table.

Emily and Olivia had been right about something; many of the students bore signs of a recent fight. They were all silent and brooding, shooting dirty glances down the table at the lone blonde figure sitting at the end. He ate his food with his back ramrod straight, his head held high. He sat alone, with the exception of Newt, who ate faithfully by his side.

Lily closed her eyes again.

---

"Scorpius Malfoy,"

A hush fell over the Great Hall. Scorpius sighed. He knew this would be about Lily. Almost automatically, he glanced over at the Gryffindor table where James and Albus were missing, presumably visiting their sister in the hospital wing. The redheads, the Weasleys, looked pale and grim. The younger boy was sending him dirty looks. It was Wednesday morning. He assumed that she had finally awoke and told that he was the one who jinxed her broom.

"Scorpius Malfoy, come here, _now_," McGonagall repeated, pale and shaking with anger. He stood up and jauntily walked to the front table.

"Yes, ma'am?"

"My office. Now. Filch will escort you," She breathed, her nostrils flaring. Next to her, the old caretaker looked positively ecstatic at helping punish a student. Scorpius nodded and Filch reached out and gripped his left arm. Scorpius pulled his arm out of Filch's grasp.

"I can walk myself, thank you," he said, lifting his chin at the caretaker.

"Mr. Malfoy, you are in enough trouble as it is!" McGonagall hissed. He ignored her and walked off.

One thing he learned from his father is to never let anyone push him around, to keep his back straight and his head held high.

So Scorpius walked all the way to the Headmistress's office, his back straight, and head held high, ignoring all the whispers that followed him.

"_Phoenix_," Filch said, grinning as the statue stepped aside. "You are to go upstairs and wait for the Headmistress. She'll be up in a few moments. Behave yourself, boy,"

Scorpius rolled his eyes and started up the stairs that started moving under his feet. Despite the circumstance, he was quite curious to see what McGonagall's office. He had never seen it before. He wasn't a troublemaker like James Potter, who had been to the Headmistress's office more than most seventh years. The door opened on its own and he stepped cautiously into the office.

The first thing he noticed was how impeccably clean it was. There were lines still in the rug covering the hardwood floors. Against the wall next to the window stood a large wooden perch for a bird, although there was no bird in sight from what Scorpius could see. There were cabinets neatly filled many sparkling, whirling silver instruments. Her desk was neatly ordered and the wall behind it was covered with sleeping portraits of previous headmasters, with the exception of two men, wide-awake in their portraits, who were both watching him eagerly.

"Mr. Malfoy, I must say it is a pleasure to finally meet you," the gentleman said, his blue eyes twinkling beneath his spectacles.

"Likewise," drawled the darker man. Scorpius couldn't help but stare.

"Excuse me, but are you..?"

"Albus Dumbledore? Indeed, I am. And this is my dear friend and colleague, Severus Snape," He smiled over his spectacles at Scorpius.

"I was your father's mentor during his school days," Snape added. Scorpius frowned.

"So you are the guys Potter is named after?" Dumbledore beamed.

"Right you are!"

"Potter named a child after _me_?" Snape said, his eyebrows disappearing up into his greasy hair. Dumbledore feigned surprise.

"Oh, did I forget to tell you that?"

"That's enough, Albus," Scorpius jumped, unaware that McGonagall had arrived. "Malfoy, sit."

Hurriedly, Scorpius sat in the chair opposite of McGonagall's desk. His heart fluttered nervously in his chest, as much as he tried to deny it. McGonagall leaned forward and surveyed Malfoy over her spectacles, forcibly reminding Scorpius of the Dumbledore he just met.

"Malfoy, there are two reports of you at the Quidditch field when Lily Potter's broom was jinxed," She began.

"So?" He said harshly. "Plenty of people were there. It was a nice day,"

"You admit you were there?"

"No," he said glumly, annoyed that the Headmistress' managed to have him inadvertently admit he was there already. He could see Snape behind McGonagall roll his eyes at Scorpius. He suddenly had an urge to throw one of McGonagall's books straight into the man's rather large and hooked nose. McGonagall stared at Scorpius.

"Okay, so what if I was? I didn't do it," He crossed his arms.

"Mr. Malfoy, a student reported seeing you running away from the scene while everyone else was running to help Miss Potter,"

He didn't respond. He wasn't quite sure how to disprove that.

"Lily Potter woke this morning and said she saw you. Is that true?"

"Yes," Scorpius sighed. McGonagall inhaled sharply.

"Well, I am afraid that swift disciplinary action must be taken. Suspension, at the least. The Board of Governors must be called. If the Potters decided to press charges, the Ministry will be involved. We should also call your parents in for a meeting," She began, shifting through papers on her desk, her hands trembling.

"Wait a minute," Scorpius sat up, protesting loudly. "Just because I was there doesn't mean anything. I said I didn't do it," McGonagall froze in place and stared at him.

"Perhaps we should call your parents now, anyway," she breathed. Standing up, she started to a door on the far side of the room, where Scorpius assumed her private quarters were. "Excuse me,"

Scorpius sat there, staring blindly across the desk. He was beginning to really get scared now; she wasn't going to believe him. But his parents, they had to believe him, right? For the first time, but certainly not the last, Scorpius cursed being a Malfoy and the reputation his name carried. Perhaps if his father hadn't been a bully, too, McGonagall would have believed him. Perhaps if his grandfather hadn't been a terrifying Death Eater, part of the inner circle of Voldemort's, she would have believed him. Against the wall, Dumbledore was surveying him, his fingertips pressed together.

"I didn't do it," Scorpius said to him. Dumbledore sighed. "Really,"

"I know," Dumbledore said somberly. His heart ached to see such a young boy under such terrible accusations.

"Then why doesn't anyone believe me?" Scorpius said through clenched teeth, balling up his hands into first and pounding them into his thighs.

Dumbledore didn't answer. Scorpius sat in silence that stretched into forever with the two portraits, waiting for McGonagall's door to open. When it did, she walked in followed by his parents. His mother rushed over to him and hurriedly took a seat. His father took the last seat, across from the portrait of Snape. The two men stared at each other, Snape's dark eyes meeting Draco's grey.

"Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, I'm afraid your son has been witnessed at the scene of Miss Potter's accident, and he has admitted to being there," McGonagall began. His mother turned sharply to look at him, her dark blonde hair whipping around.

"Is this true?" She asked, her voice low.

"Yes, mother," he began. "I was there, but I didn't do it,"

"Miss Potter identified him as the perpetrator," McGonagall told Astoria.

"She only said she saw me there!" Scorpius protested, pointing a finger at his professor angrily. "You can't use that as definite evidence to my guilt!"

"Scorpius Hyperion, you watch the attitude. She is your Headmistress!" Astoria scolded. "Professor McGonagall, when did this happen?"

"Saturday Afternoon," She replied. "It was a nice day outside, so many students ventured out to enjoy the weather,"

"Well, wait just a minute. If there were other students outside, how can you have pinpointed it done to my son?"

"There were two witnesses—"

"Who only saw him there! Did any report him having his wand drawn or hear him say a spell?"

"No, but Miss Potter made it quite clear that—"

"Did she say specifically that he was the one who jinxed her broom?" Astoria sat straight up, leaning forward to her old Transfiguration professor. She had always respected her teacher during her school years, but now she was attacking her son, and Astoria would not stand for that. McGonagall puffed up.

"Mrs. Malfoy—"

"His wand,"

All three occupants turned to Draco. He was still staring at Snape, but when he realized everyone was staring at him, he broke the contact to look at McGonagall. "Check his wand. You will be able to see the last spells he performed." McGonagall surveyed him with a critical glance.

"You wand, Scorpius," Draco held out his hand to his son, who jumped and hurriedly plunged his hand into his robes and pulled out the oak wand and handed it over to his father, who passed it to Professor McGonagall.

"This is your wand?" She asked, her eyebrows rising into her hairline.

"Yes, ma'am," he answered. "12 and ¾ inches, oak, dragon heartstring,"

McGonagall nodded. "_Prior Incantato_,"

The four watched silent as Scorpius' wand regurgitated its most recent spellwork. They waited patiently as common school spellwork was relived. Finally, there was a quick succession of spells at the end.

"Locomotor, Ascendio, Aresto Momentum, Spongify," McGonagall said softly.

"Professor McGonagall," Draco said, clearing his throat. "Spells powerful enough to jinx a broom are far too powerful for a third year,"

McGonagall looked thoughtfully at Scorpius' wand. The Malfoys sat in silence, waiting for McGonagall's decision.

"In the end, the use of a slowing charm and a cushioning charm certainly lessons Scorpius' guilt. However, the other spells cast were indeed spells that could harm Lily on her broom, perhaps in conjunction with another student. Scorpius, you will be unpunished for now. You will take your exams in my office, and when you are done, return to your room and stay their until after dinner; an elf will deliver your food," McGonagall said.

"You will, of course, be conducting a thorough investigation?" Draco asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Of course, Mr. Malfoy. I will go and speak with Lily more thoroughly and go from there. If after the investigation, Scorpius remains the most likely culprit, we will all meet again and go from there. Do we all agree?"

"I think that is very fair. Thank you, Professor," Astoria said, standing up. She leaned over and kissed her son on his head. Draco stood as well and put a hand on Scorpius' shoulders.

"Don't worry. It'll be fine," He said as they left.

And Scorpius believed him because he trusted his father more than anyone else; his father had always been able to solve everything and save them. If his dad knew he was innocent, then everyone else would too in due time.

"Mr. Malfoy, do you have any other information that could help us in the investigation?" McGonagall asked. Scorpius stared at her, impassive.

"No, ma'am," he lied. McGonagall nodded and Malfoy left.

"Minerva?" She turned and stared at the portrait behind her desk.

"Yes, Albus?"

"Please don't get caught in the prejudice of the boy everyone else has," He said somberly, frowning. Minerva nodded.

---

"I'm sure you all know why you're here," McGonagall began. It was after dinner and the entire Slytherin house was lined up across the wall in their common room facing McGonagall, Slughorn and Filch. McGonagall looked serious, while Slughorn looked uncomfortable and Filch was grinning manically.

All the students stared back at her solemnly.

"It's been reported that the perpetrator of Miss Potter's broom incident belongs to this House. Can anyone explain to me why?"

Again, all the students stared back at her. A few students wrinkled their noses or rolled their eyes at her comment.

"Ma'am, wouldn't it be faster to check their wands?" Filch asked eagerly, grinning.

"Sure, Mr. Filch. Hold out your wands, everyone," She replied, stepping forward. Slughorn started on one side while McGonagall started on the other. Filch paced up and down eagerly, giving menacing looks to the students. The two professors continued, waiting for a few minutes to watch mundane spells being relived. McGonagall stopped, however, in front of one specific girl.

"Carys, what is the meaning of this?" McGonagall asked. The entire room fell silent. Scorpius looked at the girl in question, trying to remember why he knew her. She was a tiny thing, draped in old, patched robes with long, dirty hair. Suddenly it hit him.

Carys was a first year. She was the only Muggle-born of her class in Slytherin (possibly even the only one in the whole house). She was also incredibly poor. She contrasted sharply with the majority of her House, with her lack of knowledge of common Wizarding ways and her very grubby hand-me-down robes.

"I-I don't know," she replied, her bottom lip trembling. She looked up at McGonagall threw mousy brown bangs.

"Ms. Leachko, this is very serious, you realize," Slughorn said, jogging over to her. "Those spells can incriminate you as the perpretrator of the crime,"

"I d-didn't do it! I lost my wand over the weekend, and just found it Monday morning!" She cried, fat tears welling up in the girl's eyes. Scorpius' stomach churned.

"Do you know Lily Potter?" Slughorn asked.

"Perhaps we should talk in private, dear," McGonagall said kindly, reaching out for Carys. As the girl stepped forward, one of the other first year girls spoke up through heavy lidded eyes.

"Don't you have a crush on Potter's boyfriend? One of those ugly twins," She scoffed, crossing her arms.

Carys went wide-eyed and shook her head vigorously, her pigtails flying about her head.

"Yeah, and you're at the library an awful lot. Probably where you learned all those spells," another boy said, glaring at her.

"You are bringing down the name of the Slytherin house," a Seventh year said angrily.

"Yeah!" A bunch of cries rang out. Carys trembled where she stood, tears running down her face. McGonagall placed a steadying hand on her shoulder.

"Enough!" The protesting Slytherins fell silent. "Come, dear, you're not in trouble. We're just going to have a chat,"

The Headmistress led the crying girl out the door, followed by Slughorn and Filch. The remaining students exchanged smirks and two second years even had the audacity to high five. Scorpius' stomach finally bubbled over.

"You all disgust me," He snarled. The students quieted and a seventh year, Avery, stepped forward. "She's a first year! You all know she couldn't have done it,"

"We are disgusting?" He asked softly, stepping even closer to Malfoy. He stuck his face in Scorpius'. "You're the one who was befriending blood traitors, Malfoy,"

Malfoy swelled in anger. "You told me that there would be something I would like to see at the field that day. You set me up. You made it seem like I cursed Potter!"

Avery smirked. "You have no proof of anything,"

Scorpius scowled. "I have my word,"

"That means nothing. It's fact that you hate James Potter. Everyone knows how you dueled with the brat the first day of school. You have a reputation that did all the work for me,"

Scorpius wasn't sure why he did it. Perhaps it was because he had no retort to Avery. Perhaps it was because just earlier that day, he had been thinking of how his reputation was putting the guilt on him. Perhaps he was just so bloody pissed that everyone assumed he attacked Lily.

But he punched Avery square in the jaw. He didn't care that Avery was a very large seventh year and that he was a skinny third year. He didn't care that he was already in a lot of trouble. All he could think of was Lily's face as she fell and Carys as she was led away in tears, all blame on her because someone stole her wand to protect themselves.

Avery stumbled, shock crossing his face. He narrowed his eyes and pulled back his own fist and swung at Malfoy, hitting him in the nose. Another seventh year stepped forward to help Avery but Newt jumped on his back.

And that's how the brawl involving the entire Slytherin house was started.

---

Lily's accident meant that the boys were talking to the girls again.

"Hugo, pass me a chocolate frog," Olivia demanded. Hugo rolled his eyes and threw the frog, successfully hitting Olivia in the forehead. She scowled and responded with a rude hand gesture.

Lily was currently curled up in the corner seat of their compartment on the train ride home, leaning her forehead against the window as she watched the scenery rush by. Olivia and Emily were on her side while the twins and Hugo sat on the other side; Lorcan sat across from her.

"What are you thinking so hard about?" He asked her.

"Nothing," she responded with a small smile.

It was not nothing. It was something. A _big_ something. She had had a lot of time to think about things in the Hospital wing. She thought most about Scorpius, but during that time, an idea began to formulate in her mind, something she wasn't so sure if she wanted to go through with.

The only thing she was certain about, though, was that she would never, _ever_ talk to Malfoy again.

"I'm going to go to the bathroom," She announced, standing up and carefully picking her way through the tangle of legs.

"Want me to come with?" Emily asked. Lily smiled. Em had been awfully protective of her ever since the accident. It was kind of cute.

"Thanks, but no, thanks," She grinned. "I think I can do this part on my own,"

As she walked down the corridor, faces pressed themselves against the glass to see her. Her right side of her face was still a brilliant purple, but was slowly healing with a mix of green and yellow. The gash had been healed but left a nasty scar that Madame Pomfey had promised would fade into nothing within the week. She kept her stare straight ahead of her and her head held high. It's what her father would have done, she thought proudly. She refused to let any of this affect her anymore.

As she reached the bathroom, she slowed, scowling. There, as if he was waiting for like at Christmas, was Newt. He was leaning against the wall, his arms crossed against his chest. He looked strange without a big, loopy smile that Lily was so accustomed to. There was a faded bruise under his right eye, as well. She stopped, wondering if she should just turn back and try another loo, but Newt looked up before she could move.

"Lily," he said. His voice was the same but it was missing that joyful quality.

"Newt," she replied cautiously, walking up to him. "Excuse me, I need to use the loo,"

"Not yet," he said, shifting to block the door. "I have to talk to you,"

"I don't want to hear it, Newt," she sighed. "Let me in the bathroom,"

"No,"

"Fine," she cried irritably, turning around and stalking off. "I'll go find another one,"

"He didn't do it, you know," Newt called after her. She stopped for a brief moment.

"Then why can't he tell me that?" She said sadly before turning and running off down the corridor, Newt's next words incomprehensible behind her back.

---

The rest of the train was spent playing Exploding Snap. After a twenty minute trip to the loo that Lily spent crying, she composed herself and steadied her resolve to not let this effect her, and to move on from Scorpius. She stalked back into the compartment determined but unsure of how to go about her current plan.

She didn't see Newt or Scorpius unloading the train. She saw Scorpius' mother and father, both looking a little grim, but she turned her back to them and walked up to her own set of parents.

"Ready, Lilybean?" Her dad asked, putting an arm around her shoulders. She looked around the platform. She had already said goodbye to Emily and Olivia, with promises to write and visit, but she couldn't find Lorcan.

"Mum, where's the Scamanders?" Ginny looked a little surprised.

"Oh. They were somewhere over there, last time I saw them," She answered, pointing to her right. Lily leaned around her mother, and searched, until she could see the dark brown hair she knew to belong to Mr. Scamander. The family of four was walking away, heading towards the parking lot. It was almost too late.

"Lorcan!" She cried, dodging out from under her father's arm and running through the crowd of people. People were giving her dirty looks as she pushed past them. It was now or never. "Lorcan!"

"What is she doing?" James asked Harry.

"I have no idea," he responded, watching his youngest run.

"Lorcan!" He turned finally at the sound of his name and looked surprised to see Lily chasing and shouting his name. She stopped and smiled at him when he looked up. Glancing at his mother, who nodded, Lorcan jogged forward to meet Lily halfway. He stopped and responded with his own smile.

"Yeah?"

"Lorcan, would you be my boyfriend?" She asked. His eyebrows shot up on his forehead.

"Really?"

"Really. I'd give you some roses, but I didn't think you were a flower guy," She shrugged, grinning shyly, amazed at the fluttering feeling in her stomach. Lorcan grinned and stepped closer to her.

"Good," he said quietly. "Because I'm not,"

And there, in the middle of the crowd of people and in front of their families, with a boldness Lily hadn't expected, Lorcan kissed her.

To her amazement, butterflies erupted in her stomach and she blushed as she pulled away.

"I think I know what's she's doing," James said to Harry with a grin, as Harry paled.

**Author's Note: And that's the end of first year! The next chapter should be Lily's summer and maybe even some of second year, I'm not sure yet. For all you Lily/Lorcan fans, you have your wish. For a bit… Remember, this does end up Lily/Scorpius. Sorry for the wait, but I couldn't get this chapter to turn out on paper as it was in my mind. I still don't like the scenes with Scorpius that much but I decided to post it instead of spend another week pointless editing. I hope you guys still enjoyed it. As always, please review!**


	12. Welcome Back

**Author's Notes: Thank you all for the reviews. I actually got my first flame! Actually, my first five, since the same person left five reviews… Just as a general note, if you do not like my story and review, please leave a relevant critique to improve on the areas you think I am suffering on, and in correct spelling and grammar. Calling me unintelligent really has no effect on how I write, so you might as well just not say it. : ) And I apologize for such the long wait. I had a very, very important audition that basically decided my life that I needed to prepare for. And thankfully, I got in! So here's the next chapter!**

**PassionatelyFeline: What a long review! And a lot of questions in it, too! Let's see… Scorpius frowned because he was just trying to figure out how he knew the two teachers. Lily didn't really have that deep of a crush; she is only eleven/twelve after all. Right now her feelings for Scorpius go no deeper than he's cute and James said she couldn't talk to him. Besides, didn't every small problem seem like the end of the world when you were younger? Scorpius is a bit of an old fashioned and honorable guy. He would resort to violence to fight for a girl's honor (whether it be Lily or in this case, Carys) but he wouldn't just punch a younger boy because he's bitter. As for Scorpius and Newt, the two grew close their first year when everyone picked on Scorpius for being a Malfoy. Newt was the only one who gave him a chance. Scorpius doesn't make friends very easily; he comes off very aloof with a strong temper. But he does value loyalty and open-mindedness and friendship. Therefore, it is very rare to be considered one of Scorpius' close friends, but the few friends Score does have, he is very close and loyal to. Newt is kind of different too, and Scorpius' likes unique people. So they make a good pair. **** Also, you may be interested in what I have to say at the end of the chapter.**

**LavenderExtract: That's so cool! Carys is a very pretty name. I picked it because it was Welsh and I'm Welsh. And you know what? I like it so much that Carys will more than likely be given a bigger role. :]**

**Ceci_cool_21: Thank you for reviewing. I actually do consider myself to be a huge fan of the series, and I believe you have some of your facts wrong. Fawkes only gave two feathers, but he is not the only phoenix to ever give a feather for a wand. The wand core is, however, definitely rare. So no, Lily does not have Lord Voldemort's wand. Also, Fred is still dead in this story. J.K. Rowling released on her site that George named his first son after Fred (who appears in chapter 2). Also, I did write the Sorting Hat's song. It is different from the Sorcerer's Stone, but probably very similar because I was writing based off that song. However, Lily's conversation with the hat is very different. Lily merely says please, not referring to what she wants, (she never says 'Not Slytherin', like Harry). McGonagall was not meaning to be rude with her comment, and Lily certainly didn't take it that way, so I hoped none of my readers would either. And lastly, I am not English, I am American so I apologize for any of my cultural slips. However, I am sure that there has been a year where it never snowed in October in England.**

**Chapter 12: Welcome Back**

"Lily! Are you ready yet?"

"Coming!" She called back to her mother. She gave herself one last critical look in the mirror; it was a sweltering day in the middle of August. She was dressed as lightly as possible in a thin tank top and shorts. Her hair was up in a ponytail with strands already escaping its tie. Lily did not look much different. She hadn't grown any taller, but her hair was a bit longer and she squirmed in the training bra her mother had started to make her wear, despite Lily's protests she didn't need it. Making a face at herself, she left her room and bounded down the stairs.

Her mother stood impatiently by the back door. They would be Apparating to the Lovegoods house. Ginny and Lily left their house and crossed through the woods behind their home into a small clearing. As Ginny gripped her daughter's hand tightly and turned on the spot, Lily's heart skipped in excitement.

The summer had gone by quickly for Lily. Olivia and Emily had both visited and Lily had gone to see them. The girls had spent most of their time talking, especially about Lorcan. Olivia and Emily were absolutely fascinated with him. He had never been a prominent member of their little group – Lysander generally spoke for the two of them.

"Oh, hello, Ginny," a lofty voice said sweetly. Lily opened her eyes – she found closing them made Apparition a tiny bit more bearable. Luna was squatting in the garden wearing Muggle male jeans covered in dirt, a poncho, and a large straw hat with sunflowers adorned to it. Lily felt hot just looking at her.

The Lovegoods lived in a rural part of England, secluded and surrounded by woods. Their house was oddly shaped, sort of like a pyramid, with additions here and there sticking out in the oddest places, clearly held together by magic. It sat on top of a large hill that went sloping backwards behind their house into the dark forest.

"Lily!" Lorcan cried, racing out of the house. He had apparently been watching for her from the window. "What took you so long? Come on!"

He reached forward and grabbed her hand, and tugged her towards the back of the house, waving goodbye to his own mother and Ginny.

"Bye Mum!" Lily cried with laughter as she followed her boyfriend.

"Be safe, kids," Ginny called back, waving lazily as she chatted with Luna.

Lorcan dropped Lily's hand as they went around the house and began down the hill into the words.

"Lorcan, where are we going?" Lily asked as they entered the dark forest.

"You'll see. It's a surprise," He said with a grin. "I promise you'll like it,"

The two walked for nearly half an hour through the forest, chatting about unimportant things. They often hung out in these woods, as they were Lorcan's favorite place, but Lily had never been this far in. Halfway through, the land started to slope upwards again and the grass was more and more interrupted with large stones and rocks. She was just going to ask Lorcan to take a break when they stopped.

"Close your eyes," Lorcan insisted. Lily smiled and obliged. Eyes closed, Lily's smile grew larger as his warm hand encompassed hers. Lorcan led her carefully up the last part of the hill, which was all rock now. They stopped and Lily felt a cool breeze.

"Open them,"

Lily's mouth dropped. They were standing on a giant boulder, at least a hundred feet in the air, looking over a giant sloping drop, almost as if it was a side of a cliff. Large rocks jutted here and there, breaking up the grass and trees. The hill lead down into a small creek, riddled with rocks perfect for stepping across.

"Lorcan, this is amazing," She breathed, standing as close to the edge as possible. Lorcan grabbed her wrist and pulled her back slightly, giving her a sheepish smile. Lily sighed, obliging him and sitting on the edge, her feet dangling off the edge. "How did you ever find it?"

Lorcan shrugged, frowning. "Mum and Dad were having a row. I needed to get out of the house,"

"Oh," Lily said quietly. "Was it bad?"

"The usual," he replied, with a crooked grin. Lily smiled softly back, and looked back out at the creek. As they sat there, listening to the water rushing over the rocks, their summer coming to a close, Lily couldn't help but think how much she enjoyed her summer. She had learned a lot about Lorcan. She learned how talkative Lorcan really was, once he was comfortable with someone; how he secretly didn't believe in the creatures his mother talked about and his brother adored, how he wasn't even sure if his dad believed in them or if he just humored his mum; how his dad was often gone for long periods of time or if he was home, locked in his study, how his parents fought often. Lily had met his father once. He was a large man, quite the opposite of his wife and children. He wasn't mean to her, but he had been very quiet and intimidating. There was something off-putting about the man, but Lily couldn't put her finger on it.

Lorcan reached out and grabbed her hand. He smiled at her. Shaking the negative thoughts away, Lily smiled back, glad that she had spent the summer with Lorcan, and looking forward to their second year.

----

It was the second week of the school year, and Quidditch tryouts were upon everyone. As Lily approached the field with her friends, she felt that nervous, excitable energy she associated with Quidditch, Most of the team was already there. James was gesturing wildly, entertaining the hordes of giggling young girls sitting in the stands. Race rolled her eyes at him, hitting his backside with her broom. James wiggled his eyebrows at her, running his hand through his unruly black hair, making it messier. Albus was sitting in the front row, alone as usual, patiently waiting. Rose was talking to the other Beater, Everett. Luke was standing jauntily with the captain.

"Alright, listen up!" Clint called. He had a strangely high-pitched voice for such a large man. "I want all the people trying out to sign their name and position on this list," here, he held up a large clipboard before sitting it next to Albus, "—and sit in the front rows. Everyone else, to the back!"

Emily wished Olivia, Hugo and Lily good luck before heading to the back rows with the twins. Many students were congregated in the back, and not only Gryffindors. The colors from all four houses could be seen. Lorcan touched Lily's elbow, gave her a smile, and followed his brother.

The potentials quickly signed the sheet before sitting down. As Clint silently read over the sheet, Luke read over his shoulders.

"Lily Potter? Who is Lily Potter?" Luke guffawed. Lily frowned and raised her hand. Luke smiled and high-fived some friends. "This will be a piece of cake,"

"Plymbton, get your friends off the field," Clint said, sighing. Luke saluted him with a snigger, before pushing his friends away.

Lily's frowned deepened.

"Okay!" Clint called. "We'll start with Chasers. I want all Chasers up, and do a couple laps around the field just to warm,"

"Well, that's me," Olivia stood. She closed her eyes and took a deep, shakily breath. Opening her eyes, she headed towards the small crowd gathering on the field.

"Good luck!" Lily cried after her. Hugo just grunted. He was sitting stock still next to Lily, his hands gripping his seat so hard his knuckles were turning white. His face was just as pale, as well as tinged with green and shining with sweat.

"Hugh, breathe," Lily whispered. He merely grunted again.

The two watched as the Chasers flew in circles. Clint then had them race across the field and back, timing their speeds with the help of Rose. Olivia succeeded here, as she was very fast and agile on her broom. Her turns were sharp and impeccable. James has come in first, while Race had barely secured second, with Olivia right on her tail for third. Race scowled at Olivia, looking her up and down.

However, when Clint had them practice passing the Quaffle as they flew around, Olivia started slipping. She fumbled twice, and her face was red by the end of the practice.

"Alright, Lane, Finley, Ainsley, and Colton. Thank you very much, you're free to go." The four Gryffindors dropped to the ground, scowling as they were cut, and left the field. They left behind James, Race, Olivia and three other students smiling in the sky. Olivia smirked as she realized she had passed the first round.

The Beater tryouts came next. Hugh's faced turned even greener as he stood up and headed to the field. As the beaters started warming up, Lily was nervous for Hugo. He had always had a bit of a nerves problem, and Hugo's strength in Quidditch lay in his partnership with Rose. It was as if the two siblings could read each other's minds, and plan moves together silently, and perhaps playing with his sister gave him a bit of an ego boost.

He was fairing all right. Clint had the Beaters race anyway, even though speed wasn't as important to Beaters. Hugh was towards the front by the finish, and when Clint did the first round of cuts, Hugo survived. The next section was batting practice, and as the Beaters as whacked the balls back and forth between each other, Hugo seemed to settle in to a rhythm. Clint blew the whistle and cut another group of Gryffindors, leaving behind Rose, Everett, Hugo and another broad seventh year boy. Hugo looked positively faint at being left in the final group.

"Seekers and Keepers!" Lily's heart jumped into her throat as Clint called for the Seekers. She approached the field, her heart pounding loudly in her ears. Luke, Albus, and a fifth year girl approached Clint.

"It's just the two of you for each position, so there won't be any cuts. You'll be automatically placed into the scrimmage."

They nodded. Clint blew the whistle again and the remaining hopeful gathered around him.

"Congratulations, you've made it this far. We'll have a scrimmage game as the final round. You can expect the list up within a few days. On the right, please, we'll have Noemie, James, and Olivia as Chasers, Rose and Everett as Beaters, Luke as Seeker, and Carileen as Keeper. Everyone else to the left,"

Lily smiled at Hugo as they crossed to the left. He grimaced at her, looking back nervously at Olivia. Lily shrugged and glanced around at her team. Hugo's other Beater was not the boy he had been practicing with, but a broad seventh year she didn't know. Hugo stood next to the boy and stared up at him; he towered over the short Hugo. Albus patted Hugo on the back and chuckled as he saw the pair of Beaters. Race was talking to the other two chasers, a fifth year named Gabriel, and a fourth year named Asher. Clint blew the whistles and they all mounted their brooms.

"On my mark. One… two… three!" The group pushed off the ground and Lily allowed her broom to carry her high above the pitch, whereas Luke sat idly by his Keeper. Lily frowned. If it was one thing her dad taught her, it was to stay above to get the bird's eye view. As she flew lazy circles around the pitch, she had a hard time concentrating as she kept looking back to check her friend's performances.

Olivia had a couple spectacular scores as she was able to speed through the other teams Chaser and dodge the Bludgers effortlessly to score. However, that also seemed to be her problem. Once she had the ball, she refused to let it go. There were a few times Lily witnessed Olivia be forced by Bludgers to drop the Quaffle into the hands of Race or Gabriel instead of passing to Noemie or James who were wide open.

Hugo seemed to be okay. He was doing all right, hitting the balls hard at the Luke, Carileen, and the Chasers with the exception of Olivia. He seemed unwilling to hit the ball too hard in her direction, perhaps for fear of her retaliation off the pitch. There was one nasty moment in which while trying to avoid hitting Olivia, Hugo slammed the Bludger into James.

Forcing herself to focus, Lily rose a few inches higher into the air. Luke flew by her quickly, laughing as he stopped next to her.

"What are you doing, Potter? Admiring the view?" Lily scowled. "I guess it doesn't matter if you just want to make it even easier for me,"

"You're right," She responded, suddenly smiling. "This is just too easy,"

And she took off towards Carileen's goal post, where the Snitch was hovering in the spot Luke had just vacated to mock her. Lily gripped her broom with one hand as she reached out with the other to catch the Snitch, Luke swearing feet behind her. She flattened herself against the broom and flew through the goal to catch the Snitch fluttering innocently behind it. She raised the Snitch into the air, the wings still fluttering in her hand, and Clint blew his whistle, signaling the end of the game.

As Lily hit the ground, a wide grin spread across her face. Some twenty feet away, Luke landed with a scowl. He threw his broom angrily against the ground before stalking off. Lily couldn't help but giggle at him.

Tired, sweating, but happy, Lily ran off to where her friends were waiting, a handful of strangers around Hugo and Olivia congratulating them as they went. Hugo was frowning, still pale and tinged with green, whereas Olivia looked smug. Emily was shaking her head and patting Hugo on the shoulder.

"Hugh, ignore them. You did well," she said. "You don't have any reason to be upset with yourself,"

Lorcan turned as Lily approached. He waved at her.

"Lily, you were great!" He exclaimed. Emily nodded.

"Yes, you were. I've never seen you play seriously before. It was quite incredible. You're very talented,"

"Of course, _she_ is," Hugo scoffed under his breath. "Bloody Lily Potter, _famous_ Lily Potter."

Lily's eyes widened.

"Hugh, what--?"

"Forget about it," he said roughly. "I'm going to get lunch,"

And he, too, stalked off. Lysander looked after him.

"I better go with him," he said. "Good job Lily, Olivia,"

He jogged away to catch up with Hugo.

"What was that about?" Lily asked, hurt.

Emily opened her mouth to speak, but Olivia shrugged and spoke first.

"Who cares?" She said. "It's Hugo, he's always moody. I'm hungry, too. Anyone want to go to Hagrid's for some lunch?"

Emily scowled at her, but Lorcan nodded, and the four began to leave the pitch, Lily with her brows furrowed. They had barely walked a few feet before James called.

"Lily!" He waved, standing back in front of the stands, in which a couple groups of students still sat. "Come here!"

She groaned, "You guys go. I'll meet you at Hagrid's,"

Olivia nodded and kept walking, Emily and Lorcan following her, looking back over their shoulders at Lily, unsure.

"So here she is, famous Lily Potter," James smirked as Lily got closer.

"What does that even _mean_?" She cried.

"Come on, Lils. You're a Seeker. Dad was a Seeker, a bloody good one at that. You're dad is Harry Potter!" James stressed the name. "People saw you play, and, naturally, started making comparisons,"

"Don't worry," Rose said. "We all got it at first, but the attention goes away,"

"Rosie, don't kid, we all know you don't have a sense of humor. No one thinks you're famous," James said, running his hand through hair. Rose scowled at him, and pulled out her wand.

"I'll show you famous, Potter!" She cried, as James took one look at her wand and began to run away. "Come back, you coward!"

She chased after him, screaming obscenities and Lily giggled. Rose looked quite mad chasing him, brandishing her wand, her bushy hair everywhere. She could hear James laughing loudly as he rounded the corner and disappeared out of sight, Rose soon following him.

Chuckling to herself, Lily picked up her broom and started walking to Hagrid's.

"I wouldn't say you're famous quite yet, Potter, but you're all right," someone said in a silky voice behind her. Lily turned. Scorpius was sitting in the front row, with Newt walking back and forth on the row behind him, holding his arms out to keep balance. He slowed and looked up when he heard Malfoy address her.

She frowned. It wasn't the first time she had seen Malfoy this term. While on the train, he had stopped outside her compartment, unbeknownst to her friends, and upon making eye contact with her, he smirked and tilted his head, lifting his chin, as if daring her to come out into the crowded hallway. She has scowled and turned her back to the door, and when she looked back over her shoulder, he was gone.

"My name is Lily," she said. Malfoy stood up and took a step closer to her and she took a step backwards. He paused and looked at her, tilting his head to the side slightly as he surveyed her.

"You haven't earned that, yet," he said softly with a small smile. Newt quickly shot him a look.

"Earned it?" She shrieked. "I think I've had quite enough with you! You haven't even apologized!"

"Apologized?" He said, raising his voice. "Why should I apologize? I didn't do anything wrong!"

"Scorpius," Newt said, warning him.

"Oh yeah?" Lily laughed bitterly. "If you didn't curse my broom, who did? I know you know!"

Scorpius frowned, but said nothing.

"Exactly," She said. "You may not have cast the spell, but you know who did it, and you're letting that first year take blame for it,"

"McGonagall knows Carys didn't do anything!" He said furiously.

"But she still doesn't know who really did it! The boards of governors are pressing her to punish that little girl for the crime! I bet you already knew that though, with your father on the board," She scoffed. Scorpius struggled on the verge of speech.

"Potter—I can't—you don't—there's no proof!" He yelled.

"Forget it, Malfoy," She said, backing away. "Just forget it!"

She turned and ran off towards Hagrid's.

"Potter!" He yelled, but she didn't turn. He stood there, looking slightly lost. He turned to Newt, who merely shook his head and raised his hands as if in defeat. Scorpius glanced once at Lily's retreating figure, before scowling and stalking off towards the castle, Newt following behind him.

**Author's Note: That was Chapter 12. Hope you enjoyed. It was a lot shorter than I planned, but I wanted to get something up for you guys to read. I'm having a hard time coming up with enough events to fill Lily's second, third and fourth year. I may end up skipping ahead to her fifth year, or maybe just her fourth, but I'd rather not. I'd rather give you guys some more things to read. I've just been having trouble getting things to work. I had a lot of information about the Scamander family I wanted to put it that just didn't fit… Ah well. Please review, anyway!**

**A random tidbit for some people. I shape my characters around their birthdays and their astrology signs. Some people may not believe in them, but I like to look at them. So go back to the first chapter and read everyone's birthday to find their sign and look up the personality traits! You'll get a better idea of the characters. That's also why Hugo is only born six months after Rose… ooops! And for anyone who is wondering, Scorpius is a Scorpio. Not only because of the name, but also because of his passion. ;)**


	13. Another Dinner

**Author's Notes: Thank you very much for the reviews. Here is Chapter 13!**

**Adele Bradford: Newt bought her a muggle fairytale for her birthday, about a tall dark prince and a redhead princess. In my mind, I was picturing the Little Mermaid, haha.**

**Horrible Holly: I agree. Newt is the man. He's my favorite to write! There will be plenty more of him in the future.**

**PassionatelyFeline: I love getting your reviews, they're so thorough! Check the bottom of the chapter for all the astrological information. The astrology thing is just a sort of base for each character, and as the character grows, they will grow into a much more complex person. As for the Scamanders, I've been tossing this idea back and forth for a bit that would bring the adults more into the story, revolving around Scamanders, and certainly fill Lily's third year. It's not exactly canon, but it's not pure fandom either. J.K. Rowling said in an interview once that she purposefully stated something early on, and then by the end of the series, she wasn't as sure about the issue as she was before, so she tried to leave things open-ended in the Epilogue. She, of course, tied these loose ends up eventually, but I may use that loophole in this story. Sorry to be vague, but I don't want to give too much away, although I'm sure a smart reader out there could figure that out.**

**Chapter 13: Another Dinner**

True to his word, Clint Jackson had the Quidditch list posted the next evening. Lily had stopped to ask Professor McGonagall a question about Transfiguration after dinner (now that Lily was dating Lorcan, her Transfiguration marks were steadily increasing). When she entered the common room there was a small crowd, including Rose and Hugo, around the bulletin board. Lily's eyes widened. Dropping her school bag where she was, ignoring Lorcan sitting at their usually table with Lysander and Emily, she ran to the board. Her short height allowed her to push her way to the front easily. Lorcan laughed and stood up to go collect her belongings. Lily chewed her lips nervously as she read the list.

Gryffindor Quidditch Team

Clint Jackson, Captain, Chaser

Race Ashby, Chaser

James Potter, Chaser

Everett Winchcombe, Beater

Rose Weasley, Beater

Albus Potter, Keeper

Lily Potter, Seeker

Lily squealed, jumping up and down in excitement before clapping a hand over her mouth, surprised such a sound came from her. She slid her hand away and grinned.

"You've got to be joking!" Luke exclaimed. He scowled at Lily and approached her opening his mouth to speak before James, who walked up behind her, scoffed.

"Give it a rest, Plympton," he said coolly. "She caught the snitch, not you. She won fair and square,"

Luke stood there, mouth flapping like a fish, before clenching his jaw shut, turning, and walking away.

"Thank Merlin you made the team, Lils. Plympton was such a pain to work with. But hey! Now all three Potters are on the team! Mum and Dad will be so proud. Gryffindor is going to be unstoppable!"

"Shhh!" Rose whispered, pressing a finger to her lips. She was sitting on the arm of the nearest armchair in which Hugo was slumped over, looking defeated. Rose herself looked furious.

Lily's heart sank. In her excitement for making the team, she had forgotten that neither her cousin nor Olivia had made the team.

"Oh, Hugo, I'm sorry!" She cried. Hugo made no acknowledgement of even hearing Lily. James sighed.

"Cheer up, kid. You only didn't get on the team because Winchcombe is a seventh year. He's bigger and he has more experience. It's his third year on the team,

"And it's because I'm _lousy_," Hugh mumbled. Rose shot him a look.

"You are not lousy, you just lack confidence," she snapped.

"Try out for Beater again next year. Winchcombe will be gone, and you were the best of the lot that tried out," James patted him on the shoulder and walked away to sit with Race. "Oi! Race! Looks like you're stuck with me for another year,"

"I'm just gonna do some homework," Hugo sighed and walked solemnly to where the twins and Emily sat. Lily looked at Rose, who shrugged.

"He'll be okay," she said, before leaving as well to sit with the other third year girls. Lily wasn't sure, but she too left and joined her friends.

Hugo had his book on the table in front of him, slumped forward with his elbows on the table, his head in his hands. Lysander sat on the floor, cross-legged, his back against the couch on the other side of Hugo, practicing the Locomotor charm for class. Lorcan was on the other end of the couch, smiling at Lily as she sat in the armchair with her bag in it across from him. Lily turned to Emily in the armchair next to her.

"Em, where's Olivia?"

As if answering her question, the portrait swung open and in crawled Olivia. She was winded and out of breathe, her cheeks red, as if she had run here. She looked around the common room and upon spotting them, starting walking over.

"Quidditch list is up," Lysander called loudly. Olivia stopped, her eyes widening and her jaw dropping. She looked over at the board before running over to read it.

"Why did you tell her?" Emily hissed, turning to Lysander. He shrugged.

"She was going to find out eventually,"

There was a slam. The first years jumped and turned to see the portrait door slammed shut and Olivia gone from the common room.

"Oh, Merlin," Emily cursed under her breathe. "I better go and—"

"No, you stay," Hugo said, lifting his head. "I'll go find her. I don't think I could get any homework done anyway," He stood, packed his bag, and left the room with all the first year's eyes, and Rose's, on him.

"Wow," Lily breathed. "That was strange,"

Lysander shrugged and went back to practicing charms. Lily looked at Lorcan, who shrugged too, before both went back to their homework. Emily continued to read as well, but she was biting her lip and looking at the portrait door often.

Lily became engrossed in her potions essay and lost track of time. She had reached a difficult section in the book, and was reading it to try and understand is better when a tiny paper bird landed and perched on the top of her potions book. Startled, Lily reached a hand out to it and it hopped into her hand and promptly unfolded itself. Glancing around, Lily saw Emily staring off into the opposite corner, nibbling on the end of her quill, evidently in deep thought, whereas Lysander was bent over his paper, writing furiously. Lorcan was still reading, but a grin was slowly giving him away.

Grinning herself, Lily flattened the note inside her book, and read.

'Just wanted to say congratulations. You are incredibly talented. Now I have a reason to go see the Quidditch games and actually enjoy them.

Lorcan'

Lily looked up and met Lorcan's eager eyes. He pointed his wand a the note again and whispered, "_Effingo_,"

To Lily's amazement, the note refolded itself and the bird flew up to perch on the edge of her book again.

"Did you say something?" Lysander asked, looking up from his paper and to his brother. Lorcan flushed and Lily quickly snatched the bird. She could feel it flapping its wing in her cupped hands.

"Uh, no," he stumbled. "I mean, yes, yes, I did. I said it's late. I'm heading to bed,"

Lily blinked, her eyes suddenly tired. "Wow, is it really that late? I better head to bed, too," She started packing up her stuff alongside Lorcan and Lysander, stealthily hiding her bird away.

"I wonder where Olivia and Hugo are…" Emily murmured, still staring in the distance. "It's past curfew,"

Lily felt dumbstruck as she realized Emily's words were true.

"I'm sure they're fine," Lorcan said soothingly. "It's late. You should get to bed,"

Emily yawned but shook her head. "I'll just read another chapter,"

The twins shrugged. "Suit yourself,"

Lysander waved lazily at the girls before heading up the stairs to the boys' dormitory. Lorcan bid Emily goodnight before walking Lily to her staircase.

"It's not far," she laughed. "I can walk myself,"

"Yeah," he agreed with a smile. "But then I couldn't have done this,"

He leaned forward and kissed her goodnight. As he pulled back, Lily flushed and she blinked, dazed.

"Sweet dreams," he whispered.

"You too," She replied. He stepped back and went to the boys' staircase. Albus had apparently been sitting in the armchair at the bottom of the girls' staircase. When their eyes met, Albus raised his eyebrows. Lily's ears turned red and she took off, running up the staircase and to her room. Grace and Natalie were already asleep, so Lily crept towards her bed by the window. She carefully extracted the note-bird from her bad and placed him on her nightstand. Pulling a piece of paper and her wand out, she concentrated hard on the object she wanted, hoping she was doing it right. She placed the paper on her nightstand and whispered what Lorcan had said.

"_Effingo_,"

The paper quickly twisted and folded into a miniature birdcage, just big enough to hold a paper bird. She prodded her note-bird with her wand, and it hopped inside the cage. Closing the door tenderly, Lily crawled into bed and pulled her curtains shut with a smile. Rolling over, Lily was asleep within minutes. She didn't hear Emily come in almost an hour later, or Olivia hours after that.

---

As the Fat Lady's portrait closed behind him, Hugo wasn't sure where to look for Olivia first. Hell, he wasn't even sure why he offered to look for her in the first place. He blamed her for not making the team, anyway. The girl who consistently mocked him, teased him, tortured him. The girl who, moments before leaving for tryouts, threatened to hit him back twice as hard if he hit her at tryouts. Maybe she had just been joking, but he certainly didn't find her funny. His father had told him to never hit a girl… (Rosie didn't count; she acted like a guy, anyway). He had had the perfect opportunity to beat the Bludger at Olivia, preventing her from scoring. He hesitated for a fraction of a second, his father's words and Olivia's floating in his ear, and by the time he swung, it was too late, and Olivia had scored, and Clint was frowning in his direction…

Scowling as he wandered the halls, he had just about given up on finding Olivia when he saw a dark ponytail whip around the corner.

"Hey!" He called, speeding up. "Olivia, is that you?"

As he rounded the corner, he nearly ran right into Olivia. She was standing there, arms crossed over her chest, her eyes red and narrowed.

"What do _you_ want?" She spat at him, her voice thick.

"Nothing, I—are you _crying_?" Hugo said, scared. He didn't know what to do if a girl cried. All the girls in his life had never been criers. Olivia's face softened for a moment, before the hard look came back.

"No, I'm not!"

"I think you are," He said, pointing to her glistening cheeks. She smacked his hand away.

"I am not!" She insisted, balling her hands into fists at her side, and stomping her foot. "I don't even care that I didn't make the stupid team,"

"Who even said anything about Quidditch?" Hugo smirked while Olivia glared at him. "Besides, you didn't think it was so stupid yesterday,"

"Well," she huffed, her nose in the air. "I was clearly misinformed.

Hugo snorted. Olivia dropped her tense pose.

"What?"

He continued to snicker.

"What are you laughing at?" She demanded.

Hugo's chuckles turn into full out laughing. "You're just—you're clearly upset and you're so—_hic_—vehemently denying it," He calmed himself to just a very large grin. "It's just very silly,"

"Don't laugh at me!" she cried and Hugo laughed again. Eve as she pouted, her mouth twitched, betraying her.

"You're gonna laugh,"

"No, I'm not,"

"Yes, you are. I can see you're hiding it," He teased her, touching the corner of her mouth. Olivia smiled and rolled her eyes away, smacking his hand away much more gently this time.

"Fine, whatever," Olivia said, giggling.

Hugo grinned at her. Olivia smiled reluctantly back at him.

"Come on, tubby. I'm hungry. Let's get something to eat," Hugo frowned at the nickname but followed her anyway.

"You know it's almost curfew, right?" Hugo panted as he tried to match Olivia's long strides.

"So?" She glanced back at him with a smirk and a mischievous look. "What's life without a little adventure?

As they reached the Great Hall, Olivia turned to Hugo. "Where do you think the kitchen is?"

"You don't know? Where have you been taking us then?" Hugo asked loudly, exasperated. She shushed him and shrugged. Hugo sighed.

"Luckily, I've been there before," He said, stomping down the stairs leading towards the kitchens.

"You have? With who?"

"Lysander," They approached the picture of the fruit. Hugo reached a hand up to tickle the pear and Olivia gasped as it turned into a handle. Hugo swung the door open and bowed, ushering Olivia in.

"After you, milady," Olivia entered and looked around with awe.

"How may I help miss and sir?" The nearest house elf squeaked. Olivia turned to Hugo.

"What should I get? I want to drown my sorrows,"

"How about a giant sundae to share?" He suggested. Olivia's eyes lit up.

"Oooh, with bananas and fudge?"

"And cherries?"

"Lots of cherries," she corrected. The house elves bustled off to prepare their treat, and Olivia added to Hugo, solemnly, "I love maraschino cherries,"

The two sat at the Gryffindor table, Olivia nearly bouncing with excitement. Hugo grinned as the towering sundae was placed in between them.

"Thanks," he added as an afterthought, ice cream already stuffed in his mouth, just because he knew his mother would have reprimanded him if he didn't.

"So how did you and the little freak find your way here, anyway?" Olivia asked, plucking a cherry from the sundae and popping it in her mouth. Hugo gulped at the action, and it took him a moment to answer.

"Don't call him a freak," he said. Olivia raised her eyebrows but kept her mouth shut. "We came here once after detention. How he found it, I have no idea. He said he could just feel the energy. I usually don't question what Lysander says," Hugo trailed off, looking thoughtful.

"Wait, what?" Olivia sputtered. "You guys got detention? For _what_?"

Hugo's ears turned red and he shifted uncomfortably. "Well, I actually had detention for a week. I didn't want Rose to know,"

"What did you guys do?" She breathed, decidedly impressed.

"You know when Lily and Lorcan were being awkward, so I spent a lot of time with the twins?" Olivia nodded. "Didn't you ever wonder where we were at night?"

Olivia scratched her head. "You know, now that you say it, you guys were never around after classes…"

"That's because we spent most of our nights in the Forbidden Forest," Olivia nearly choked on her ice cream. Hugo thumped her on the back.

"In the forest? Are you crazy?" Hugo smiled sheepishly.

"Lysander wanted to explore, and Lorcan never tells him no. But Lorcan usually made sure we back in the castle before midnight,"

"Midnight? You snuck into the forest after curfew?" Hugo nodded. Olivia, on the other hand, shook her head. "What did you guys even do in there?"

"Just hung out, really," He shrugged. "We found this giant ditch once, and it was all covered in spider webs, and giant decayed acromantula bodies," He shuddered. "That was pretty scary. We collected rocks once, and just skipped them across the lake. I remember I had the coolest looking stone. It was red and glimmering, and it had a giant crack down the center. And one time, we found a this old dead blue car, and it had trees growing through it and all around it. It looked pretty cool, too,"

Olivia laughed. "You guys are such… _boys_,"

"It was a lot of fun, until we got caught. Lorcan wasn't with us. There was a Transfiguration quiz the next morning and he wanted to study, so he stayed in the Library. But as Lysander and I were walking through the forest, we got attacked,"

"Oh, my god!" Olivia gasped. Hugo grinned, enjoying the attention of his story.  
"By what?"

"Centaurs. You know, the half-horse, half-human people. They apparently aren't too fond of wizards still,"

"How did you get away?" She asked, her eyes wide and focused on him.

"Hagrid," He sighed. "He had been taking care of a sick animal, and heard our voices. He was pretty miffed with us, especially me since he knows my parents really well. He brought the two of us straight to Professor McGonagall. We had a weeks worth of detention, and she wrote to my parents,"

"That sucks," Olivia concluded, scooping the last bit of ice cream into her mouth. Hugo nodded, playing with his spoon. The two sat in silence for a moment. Olivia sighed.

"This ice cream was good but… I'd rather I was on the team," she said in a small voice. Hugo nodded.

"Same,"

"I don't mean to sound like a bad friend, because I am happy for her, but I really don't want to hear Lily come back from practices and talk all about them," Olivia frowned, the words rushing out. "I know she doesn't mean anything by it,"

Hugo snorted. "Lily never means anything, but she still always does it. She's been like that her whole life. She doesn't realize other people don't have as great a life as she does,"

"Okay," Olivia snorted. "Like your life is so hard, being the son of the people who saved the world, being rich and famous. My best friends are rich and famous. I'm a nobody, even in my own family! I have three little sisters that get everything!"

"I'm not rich and famous, my family is!" Hugo shouted suddenly, glaring and Olivia was taken back. "My parents did all these great things, and my cousins are all so perfect. Rose is the better Quidditch player, Albus is smarter, James is funnier, and Lily is sweeter. I'm expected to be somebody, but what am I supposed to be?"

Hugo suddenly closed his mouth, his jaw clenched, as if the words had forced their way out of him. Olivia sat there in a stunned silence.

"I'm… I'm sorry," she stammered. "I didn't even think—"

"That's right, you don't think," he said coolly. Olivia glared at him, her eyes filling with tears. Hugo shook his head and sighed.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap on you," he said. Olivia sniffed.

"That's okay," She muttered. Hugo tossed his spoon into the empty ice cream bowl.

"So much for drowning our sorrows," He muttered. Olivia laughed bitterly.

"We can try again another night," She stood up. "Come on, it's past curfew,"

Hugo stood and looked across the table at Olivia. The two shared a tentative smile. Perhaps the two could get along after all.

As the two left the kitchen and crept along the halls, Olivia turned to Hugo.

"If you get me caught out after curfew, I'll kill you, tubby," she scowled. Hugo sighed.

Or not.

**Author's Note: There is Chapter 13! We get to see a little bit more of those we haven't previously. Please review.**

**ASTROLOGY INFORMATION:**

** PassionatelyFeline asked for me to go over the astrology traits that I mentioned last chapter. These definitions are only a base for the character, and they, just like everyone else, don't fit each mold perfectly. **

** James, born June 11****th****, 2004: Gemini. Gemini is ruled by Mercury, the planet of childhood and youth. James is very much a child. Typical Gemini traits: fun, cheerful, extroverted, lack application, flighty, charismatic, intelligence. They are apt to fighting, can be manipulative. If things go wrong for Gemini, they get sullen, peevish, and tend to sulk, just like a child. Likes: talking, novelty and the unusual, variety in life, multiple projects at once, reading. Dislikes: feeling tied down, learning such as school, being in a rut, mental inaction, being alone.**

** Albus, born April 25****th****, 2005: Taurus. Typical Taurus traits included solidity, practicality, extreme determination and strength of will, stable, balanced, conservatively good, law-abiding, lover of peace, steadfast. However, they can be unoriginal, rigid, and argumentative and brooding once provoked. They are faithful and generous friend, but don't make friends easily. Likes: stability, being attracted, things natural, time to ponder, comfort and pleasure. Dislikes: Disruption, being pushed too hard, synthetic things, being rushed, being indoors.**

** Lily, born March 22, 2006: Pisces/Aries. Typical traits of a Pisces: imaginative, sensitive, compassionate, kind, selfless and unworldly, intuitive, sympathetic, idealistic, secretive, vague, escapist, spiritually. Likes: Solitude to dream in, mystery, the ridiculous, getting "lost". Dislikes: the obvious, being criticized, know-it-alls, pedantry. The big difference in Lily is that she is born on the cusp of Aries. Lily embodies an Aries personality, and is much more subtly, but definitely still, a Pisces. Aries are courageous leaders, adventurous and energetic, enthusiastic and confident, dynamic and quick-witted, selfish and quick tempered, impulsive and impatient, foolhardy and daredevil. Likes: Action, coming in first, challenges, championing causes, spontaneity. Dislikes: waiting around, admitting failure, no opposition, tyranny, other people's advice. **

** Rose, born August 31, 2005: Virgo. Typical traits: Modest and shy, meticulous and reliable, practical and diligent, observant and shrewd, precise, cleanly and hygienic, patient and practical, intelligent and analytical, fussy and a worrier, overcritical and harsh, perfectionist. It's also the only zodiac sign to be represented by a woman, sometimes a somewhat older smarter woman, but rather pedantic and spinsterish. They can be closed off emotionally, and have a hard time making relationships. Likes: health, lists, hygiene, order, wholesomeness. Dislikes: Hazards to health, anything sordid, sloppiness, squalor, being uncertain.**

** Hugo, born January 1, 2006: Capricorn. Typical traits: Practical and prudent, ambitious and disciplined, patient and careful, humorous and reserved, pessimistic and fatalistic, miserly and grudging, somewhat self-centered, prone to mood swings. Likes: reliability, professionalism, foundation, purpose. Dislikes: Wild schemes, fantasies, ignominy, ridicule. As you can see, Hugo is rule very much by the "darker" qualities of Capricorn, and he doesn't quite fit into the definition of his zodiac sign, and after reading this last scene, you can see that it was done purposefully, to add to Hugo being "different", or in his mind, a nobody, because he's doesn't feel as if he fits in in his family. **

** Scorpius, born October 31, 2003 (meaning he is almost twelve by the time he starts Hogwarts): Scorpio. Typical traits: Determined and forceful, intelligent and proud, intuitive, powerful and passionate, extreme and emotional, exciting and magnetic, jealous and resentful, compulsive and obsessive, secretive and obstinate. They are the most intense, profound and powerful of the zodiac. They often appear self-controlled and calm, even if inside, they are not. In their every day behavior, they give the appearance of being withdrawn. They have a great self-discipline for they recognize qualities in themselves that make them different, and can be used for great good or great evil. If hurt, they can be destructive. He's also born on Halloween, a special day all about disguises. Likes: truth, hidden causes, being involved, being persuasive. Dislikes: being taken advantage of, shallow relationships, demeaning jobs, flattery. **

** I haven't given any other characters enough attention yet to decide on their birthdays and zodiac signs. However, the twins are born on February 29, a leap year, making them not only Pisces, but very unique. : ) **


	14. A Boy's Plan

**Author's Notes: Thank you all for the reviews on Chapter 13, they make me so happy. I hoped you enjoyed it. Here's Chapter 14!**

**Hollandtheamoeba: The red stone was the Resurrection Stone. Just a random tidbit.**

**HorribleHolly: Hopefully by the end of this story you will like Lily and Scorpius! And Olivia just needs some time to grow up. She does have some legitimate issues; she just doesn't know exactly how to handle it. **

**Annetaco: I hate writing the Quidditch scenes as well; I'm trying to cut down on them too. Haha. It's a little necessary though, considering so many of the characters play Quidditch, and Scorpius and Lily are on opposing teams. It'll be interesting. **

**PassionatelyFeline: Hugo and Olivia have a lot in common. They both have large families, and both are surrounded by famous and more talented friends. They understand each other, or they could, if Olivia would let her guard down and open up, an idea that is both foreign and terrifying to her. Perhaps, one day, if she can do such thing, and focus less on being popular and well liked, a romance could form between the two, but as of right now, things aren't going too well. We'll just have to wait and see. As for the twins' escapades, Lysander wouldn't consider Hogwarts worthwhile unless he could encounter a giant or find a Crumple-Horned Snorkack. **

**Blue92: Thank you, I'm glad you're enjoying the story. Don't worry, Lily and Scorpius will be on better terms relatively soon. Things are getting complicated to write now because I not only need to handle Lily and Scorpius and make sure things are mentioned at appropriate times and lead to the right things, the minor characters are going to be making even bigger appearances. And yes, the book was The Metamorphosis by Kafka. I'm so glad someone knew the book!**

**.: Thank you for the review. I'm quite flattered. I'm glad you're enjoying the story!**

**Chapter Fourteen: A Boy's Plan**

Scorpius scowled as he walked aimlessly across the Hogwarts ground. He felt like all he did was scowl lately. His fourth year was not going as planned: Potter hadn't forgiven him, Arithmancy was suddenly incredibly hard, and half of his year was pairing up, yet he was without a girlfriend.

Not that he didn't have any offers. Plenty of girls batted their eyes at him as he passed, squealing and giggling, but he had never been attracted to that kind of girl. Their high-pitched noises hurt his ears, and usually there was nothing in between their ears but air.

However, there was a very pretty Ravenclaw in his Arithmancy class who actually could think for herself… perhaps Scorpius would ask if they could study together. Alone, in a secluded corner of the library… Scorpius smiled at his fantasy, but was suddenly jostled awake as if someone had dumped cold water on him. She had red hair.

Scorpius shook his head fiercely. That would not do.

There was another girl who he shared Herbology with. She was a Hufflepuff but nonetheless, she was very pretty, and mildly intelligent. She was quiet, which was nice, because then she wouldn't bug him with the useless rambles about nothing most girls were prone. Perhaps he could be a gentleman and escort her back from the Greenhouses, take the long away around so before entering the castle he could bend down and kiss…

Scorpius wrinkled his nose. The girl was way too short for him.

He sighed. There was no way he could date a Gryffindor—that was pretty much self-explanatory. He didn't have many options in his own year, either. Zabini had basically called Lael for himself. He rolled his eyes inwardly at Zabini misogynistic ways. He wasn't even sure if Lael was interested in anyone in Hogwarts. She rarely spoke and pretty much stayed by herself. Scorpius and her did homework silent in the Library most nights. He wouldn't mind dating her, but there was just something very off-putting about her that prevented him from experiencing any feelings for her.

Daisy would probably die from happiness if Scorpius even showed her some mild interest but he would much rather date the Giant Squid—as Jace put it, Daisy had some major Daddy issues that none of them felt like dealing with.

Perhaps an older Slytherin girl…

As Scorpius mused over his options, he became aware of someone behind him. He was past Hagrid's huts at the far edge of the lake, leaning against a tree. It wasn't a common area for most people to hang out as it was in the shade from the Forbidden forest; whoever was behind him was there for him.

He turned quickly, pulling his wand from his waist as he went, and leaned around the tree. He heard a squeak and saw robes dash behind the other side of his tree. Confused, Scorpius crawled forward just enough so that he could peak around the other side. However, once he looked, he saw the tail of a long, dirty robe whisk out of sight. Scorpius quickly turned and reached around the other side of the tree. There, facing him was Carys. She squeaked at being discovered, her cheeks turning red.

"What are you doing?" Scorpius asked. Carys bit her lip and looked down. "What?"

She didn't answer again. Scorpius sighed and sat back down against the tree, pulling one leg against his chest and leaning his arms on it.

"Fine," he said coolly, and continued staring out across the lake. He could see Carys in his peripheral vision shifting from one foot to the other in indecision before sitting down next to him cross-legged.

"Yes?" He asked, turning to look at her. She blushed.

"Hi," she mumbled. Scorpius chuckled at her behavior. She blushed again and looked at him through her dirty bangs. "I heard you told McGonagall I didn't curse Lily Potter's broom,"

Scorpius nodded, clenching his jaw.

"Thanks," she said softly. "I want to stay at Hogwarts,"

"You like it here, then?" He asked. Carys' eyes lit up and she nodded her head excitedly.

"It's so cool! I had no idea I could do magic until I got my letter," she said, the words spilling from her mouth in a rush. "I love all my classes and the castle is so pretty! I just wish people were a little nicer,"

Scorpius frowned. "Well, get used to it, because no one is going to be nice,"

Carys' looked down at her lap.

"No one will accept a Muggleborn in Slytherin house," Scorpius said, looking away with a small frown.

"Professor McGonagall said it would get better. That it didn't matter that I was muggleborn, I was as much of a witch as everyone else," She said quietly, trailing off.

"So prove it," Scorpius said suddenly and rather fiercely. Carys looked up slightly surprised.

"What?"

"If you let them push you around, then you deserve it. Don't let them step on you. Show them you're a real witch,"

Carys nodded, staring at Scorpius with awe. She sat up straight, her shoulders back, and her chest out. She gripped her wand tightly in her hand.

"Yeah, no one messes with Carys Ann Leachko and gets away with it!" She said fiercely. Scorpius laughed loudly. Carys smiled at him.

The two sat in silence, with Scorpius occasionally still chuckling. He leaned his head against the tree trunk and closed his eyes, enjoying the breeze as it blew across his face. Carys was making bracelets out of the grass.

"Malfoy?" She asked quietly.

"Hm?"

"Do you know who cursed Lily's broom?" She asked meekly.

"Yes," he replied, keeping his eyes closed. Carys dropped the grass in her hands and stared at him.

"Who did it?"

"Avery and his little gang,"

"Why didn't you tell Professor McGonagall?" She said, sounding hurt.

"I did," he opened his eyes and stared across the lake. "It was too late and there isn't any proof,"

"But—"

"It's hopeless, Carys. Let it go," Scorpius got up, put his hands in his pockets, and walked off back to the castle, leaving Carys frowning at the edge of the lake.

---

Scorpius hadn't expected for Carys to take his words so seriously. He was coming back from dinner with Newt when the trouble started. He walked into the common room, and saw Carys sitting in the armchair by the fire, usually reserved for Avery. It wasn't an exact rule but more of an understanding that the first years had to sit in the hard wooden chairs in the corner farthest from the fire. The other first years were looking at her with a mixture of disgust and awe.

Newt elbowed Scorpius and nodded at Carys. "Isn't that your damsel in distress?"

Scorpius shook his head. "She can take care of herself,"

Even if he said it out loud, he didn't exactly believe it. He made sure to take a seat with a clear view of Carys, just in case things got out of hand. Newt smiled and shook his head as Scorpius sat down in their not usual seat. Nevertheless, he sat with Scorpius and pulled his own wand out, holding it discreetly in his lap.

Within a few minutes, Avery and his gang entered through the portrait hole. Upon seeing Carys sitting in his chair, Avery frowned and stalked up to her, his robes billowing behind him.

"What exactly do you think you're doing, Mudblood?" He hissed.

"Reading my charms book," she said carelessly, flipping a page in her book.

"In my chair,"

"I don't see your name on it," she smirked. Avery pulled out his wand.

"Then I'll help you see it," he sneered.

"_Mollis Cruris," _Carys cried, whipping her wand around. Avery fell to the ground; his legs had been turned to jelly. Nott bent down to help him. Vaisley and Bletchley on either side of Avery pulled out their wands.

"Not so fast," Scorpius said, standing up and pointing his wand at the two; Newt followed seconds after, standing and pulling his wand out as well. Vaisley looked between the two as if considering whether or not to attack them.

"Don't even think about it," Lael said, standing up from her corner in the room. Scorpius didn't think he had ever heard her speak before; she had an accent that Scorpius couldn't place.

Avery stood up; Nott had finally taken the jelly-jinx curse off of him. He glared at the three of them standing before shrugging off Nott and stalking off to the boys dormitory.

Carys stood at the armchair, looking pale and surprised at herself. The first years in the corner were looking at her with a new regard. She turned to look at Scorpius and smiled, giving him a thumbs up. Scorpius shook his head, laughing sheepishly.

He turned to sit back down and saw Lael still standing, staring at him. She smiled slightly at him and Scorpius nodded back. She sat back down to her homework, her long blonde hair falling in front of her thin face. Scorpius continued to watch her. Lael reached her slender arm up and tucked her hair behind her face; she was still smiling.

Maybe Lael wasn't out of the picture after all…

**Author's Note: That's Chapter 14. It's short, I know, but I wanted to get something up for you guys to read. And you get to see what Scorpius is up to. School is very difficult; they changed the grading system so that we all start class with a C, and they're making it nearly impossible to raise your grade. I'll try to update as much as I can, even if it is a short chapter like this. Please review!**


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